


Love / Hate Thing

by LikeTearsInRain



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Arguing with the other turns these two on what else can I say?, Bickering, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, High School, Jealousy, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:55:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29081994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeTearsInRain/pseuds/LikeTearsInRain
Summary: When Shelby and Toni discover that their significant others have been hooking up behind their backs they enact a plan to cure their heartbreak by making them jealous. The plan? Pretending to date each other. The problem? It's pretty much common knowledge that no two people despise each other more than Shelby Goodkind and Toni Shalifoe.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 81
Kudos: 726





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this fic for another fandom years ago and had to abandon it because a lot of shitty life stuff got in the way. I've rediscovered it recently and decided I wanted to repurpose it for this ship and feel the urge to write again. Let's see where this thing goes shall we?

“Shelby! Dorothy's here!” Jo Goodkind called out from downstairs.

“I’m coming!” Shelby yelled down as quickly ran down the stairs, nearly tripping on the door mat in the foyer to get to the door. “Hey,Dot!” She greeted Dot with a huge grin as she opened the door.

“Hey! You ready to head out? 

“Definitely!” The blond grinned wildly. She had been craving a decent night out since classes had started a few weeks ago. Between classes, cheerleading, pageant prep, and church she was spread really thin. “I'm just gunna grab my purse.”

She headed into the living room and called out to her mom in the kitchen. "I'm heading out with Dot, Mom, I'll see you in a few hours!" "Bye honey and remember you father says curfew is eleven thirty sharp!" Jo's voice rang out from the other room. Shelby snagged her purse and tailored pink blazer from the back of the armchair and headed back towards the foyer to Dot.

"Eleven thirty? Lame!" Dot scoffed. Shelby playfully shoved her in response.

"Yeah let's moving before my Daddy makes that time window even smaller!"

Dot let herself be dragged out the door of Shelby’s house as they made their way to Shelby’s car. Dot gets in the passenger seat and gives Shelby a once over.

"You look nice. Getting all dolled up for Andrew?”

”You think?” Shelby grinned. “Not that he’d notice when he’s too busy trying to get me out of my top.” “Boys.” Dot and Shelby said simultaneously, sharing a laugh. Jokes aside, Shelby was thrilled at the prospect of spending the night with Andrew. He’d been a little distant lately and with her being so busy with her extracurriculars some quality time was just what they needed.

“Andrew told me earlier he was going to meet us there. We should head-“ Shelby was interrupted by her cell ringing . “Hello?” She started as she picked up the receiver. “Andrew! We were just heading out to meet you. Wait, what? What do you mean you're not coming?" Dot watched as disappointment washed over the blonde. "You're sick? Why didn't you tell me? I can come over and bring you some- Oh, okay. Well I'm probably going to just stay home too. I don't really want to go if you're not going to be there.." Dot rolled her eyes next to her, used to Shelby's co-dependency with Andrew. "Well get some rest okay? And feel better. Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye Andrew " Shelby ended the call with a sigh. Her plans for the night sufficiently ruined.

“So I'm assuming from you're "Someone ran over my dog" look than Andrew's not coming out tonight?” Dot dared to ask.

“He said he's really not feeling well. Apparently there's a bug going around...I don't know. ” Shelby answered glumly.

“Really? He looked fine to me yesterday at football practice.” Dot noted.

“Must have gotten it from the guys in the locker room or something. You know, sweating and all, then cold showers and such.” Shelby attempted to rationalize.

“Yeah that's probably it. .” Dot replied in her attempt to be supportive, even though Andrew's excuse sounded like a crock of shit.

“I think I'm just going to stay in and catch up on homework and stuff." Dot's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Uh hello? Shelby. You’ve only been talking about going out tonight all week. Please, don't let Andrew ruin your night! You're gunna come out and we're gunna have a kickass time and that's final! Besides, I could really use a night out too. 

Shelby looked down guiltily. Dot was right. With everything going on with her dad it would be good for Dot to get out and have a good time. Shelby couldn’t be selfish just because her boyfriend wasn’t going to be around. She needed to be a good friend to Dot. 

“Oh, alright, alright. We can go-“

"That’s what I’m talking about! You need this, I need this. Why fight it?"

”Who am I to argue with your superior wisdom?” Shelby laughed..

“Damn right.”

Shelby started to feel a little of her disappointment about Andrew slip away and began to take on some of Dot's enthusiasm. She shook her head and offered Dot a wry grin.

“Jesus take the wheel!”

”Whatever. Let's party!"

Shelby turned the keys in the ignition and the pair were off.

~~~~

A cloud of thick smoke engulfed them as Shelby and Dot walked into their towns only all ages club, The Island.

“Lord! Will people stop with this vaping nonsense.” Shelby waved her hand in front of her face to clear a cloud of vape smoke from someone nearby. 

“Don’t knock it until you try it. The mango stuff kind of kicks ass.” Dot replied.

“I think I’ll just take your word for it.” “Yo bitches!” A voice calls out. Shelby and Dot push past a small crowd of people to see Fatin waving at them from a table, Leah next to her. “Hey, ya’ll!” Shelby and Dot sit down and join them. 

“I wish this wasn't the only option of nightlife in this shit hole of a town. This place blows.” Fatin protested. “Fucking bartender is like the god damn Gestapo. Wouldn’t even bother to look at my fake. I spent good money on this!

“Chill Fatin, We all know you’re strapping.“ Leah gives a pointed look at Fatin’s thighs.  
Fatin pulls her dress her her thighs to reveal two flasks secured at the top of her stockings. “You’re damn right baby. I always come prepared.” 

“Hell yeah.” Dot gives Fatin a fist bump. ”I'm going to shut up now and go get us some drinks. What does everyone want?”

  
A chorus of replies from the group rang out, the majority of them ordering diet soda's for Fatin to spike. 

A thrumming bass filled the atmosphere of the club as the DJ switched to the next track.  


“I’m going to go find some fresh meat to dance with. Hold these for me until I get back.” Fatin slid out of her chair and reached under her dress to hand the flasks to Leah. She turned and made her way out to the dancefloor on the prowl.

“Thanks for the pussy liquor!” Leah called out after her. She turned to Shleby. 

“Maybe we should sedate her for all of our sakes.”p> Shelby laughed. “Fatin is just being…Fatin.” She replied and they both looked over and noticed Fatin had already caught her prey for the night, her arms circling some guys neck as she backs him into a dark corner of the club. 

An lingering silence settled between them. The truth was that things had a tendency to sometimes get awkward to between them. Months ago, Leah blew up at Shelby claiming was attempting to steal her boyfriend behind her back. While obviously untrue and a misunderstanding of Shelby just trying to help her friend realize the unhealthy situation she was in, Leah’s instability and uncontrollably jealousy at the time put a rift between them that was still hard to completely patch up. Small talk was about as far as they’ve made it. 

  
“So…” Leah finally ventured. “Andrew didn’t come tonight?”

“No, he’s home, sick. He’s got the flu.” Shelby answered quickly. p>

“Really? I just saw him earlier today, he seemed fine to me.” Leah started.

“Maybe it wasn’t him.” Shelby offered.

“Shelby, I read on the bleachers everyday when the football team practices , I’m pretty sure I can identify Andrew’s floppy ass head when I see him.” Leah countered.

Shelby was about to chastise her for her insult when Dot returned. A strange look was plastered on Dot’s face. She looked pretty spooked .  
“Dot? Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! I’m just…suddenly feeling like I want to hurl. Could we possibly head home?” Dot asked.

“Go home?” Fatin’s voice hovered over them, rejoining them at the table and taking a swig from the flask near Leah. “We just got here.”

“We did but, maybe leaving would be the better option. I-I’m tired and… LEAH” Leah arched a brow, clearly confused how she was being roped into this conversation. "Leah looks really exhausted too. I mean we’re all tired! We should just call it a night." Dot’s eyes frantically tried convince Leah to pick up on the signals she was giving.

“You’re tired?" Shelby questioned, disbelievingly. "Dot, you we’re the one begging me to come out tonight. Telling me how much you needed this. And now you want to just leave?” Shelby asked.

“Exactly.” Dot stated matter-of-factly.

“Something's going on, Dot. Spill” Shelby could easily read the fear and nervousness in her best friend’s eyes.

“Nothing is up!" Dot tittered nervously, not convincing Shelby one bit. "If we could just head out..." Dot's eyes shifted from the club's entrance back towards the dance floor which she had been trying to avoid for the entirety of the conversation.

“Dot, what-“ Shelby stopped in mid-sentence as she followed Dot’s gaze. Everyone in the table did the same.

“Hey, isn’t that Andrew? What’s he doing with that chick? I thought you two were-“

“Fatin…if you value your life.” Leah interrupted her. “I would, shut up.”

“Andrew?” Shelby felt as if she had been decked in the stomach with how swiftly the air had left her lungs. Tears of betrayal and embarrassment pooled in her eyes. 

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It felt as though time at stopped and the air felt thick around her. Standing in the middle of the dance floor was Andrew, but instead of lying in bed at home sick nursing his alleged fever, he was wrapped up in the arms of a beautiful tan skinned brunette who was grinding into him with abandon.

Shelby wanted to vomit.

“What…”

“Shit Shelbs, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see this” Dot offered lamely, as she watched Shelby's expression of confusion shift to one of heartbreak.  
________________________________________

The girl, attached to Andrew's body like a vampire leech, was using her mouth to get intimately acquainted with his neck. Andrew was closing his eyes in pleasure at the onslaught. When the other girl finally took a fraction of a step away from him, Shelby was finally able to recognize who it was. It was the weird punk chick that hung out with that hot head Toni Shalifoe and the other outcasts in school - Regan.

The ache of sadness within Shelby was quickly starting to be replaced with pure, unadulterated rage. She didn't even notice her feet started moving towards the pair until she was standing directly behind Regan.

She struck at Regan like a Viper, gripping her by the arm and using all her strength to push her petite body onto the dingy nightclub floor. With Regan out of the way Andrew now had a direct line of sight to the irate blonde in front of him.

"Shelby!" Andrew yelped, his eyes widening in terror. "What are you doing here?"

"That's my line!" Shelby screamed at him. Andrew looked like he was trying to assess where the nearest exit was as it was clear he was not escaping this altercation unscathed. "What happened to " _I'd come out babe but I'm feeling really sick tonight._ " Shelby, said mimicking him. "Now I come here to find out that not only did you lie to me but you’re going behind by back with this…this…floozy!” 

"Excuse me bit-" Regan began to butt in after finally picking herself up from off the floor, but Shelby had other ideas. She turned around and had her hands on Regan's throat before the other girl could even blink.

“I have never in my life resorted to violence but I think that god will give me a pass just this once!”

Andrew and Shelby's group of friends looked on dumbfounded as the pair of girls started brawling right in the middle of the club.

Dot found herself in a trance as she watched Shelby get a well-placed punch in to Regan's jaw.

”Damn, who knew bible thumper could go all ready to rumble?” Fatin said. 

“Leah” Dot called out. “We gotta do something!”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to get in the middle of…whatever that is.” Leah pointed toward Shelby who was currently attempting to scalp Regan with her bare hands.  


Fatin took the initiative to step in before the fight could escalate to a point where either the cops or medics had to arrive.

Fatin grabbed Shelby by her waist pulling her off a battered Regan who could barely get up off the floor.

"I swear to Christ Fatin you better let me go!" Shelby screamed as she thrashed around in her arms. "Get ready to feel the wrath of the lord, skank!!"

“Calm down Shelby! Stop acting like you’re performing a fucking exorcism. She’s beat." Fatin tried to pacify her but she had already flown too far off the handle.

Shelby was letting out huge heaving breaths, still subdued in Fatin's arms. The fury burning within her threatening to consume as she watched Andrew walk over to help a banged up Regan off the floor.

"Psychotic bitch!" Regan spat, clutching onto Andrew like a lifeline as she favored her right leg.

"Maybe you should learn how to keep your slutty little hands to yourself and away from my boyfriend!" Shelby screeched in reply.

"Oh you're boyfriend, is he?" Regan chuckled evilly, regaining some of the upper hand now from her beat down earlier. "You mean the one who came onto _me_? The one who would whisper in my ear about how good _I_ made him feel compared to his frigid girlfriend? Andrew hasn't been yours for quite some time now. I've been taking care of him in my bed for _months._ _Take a look at yourself Shelby. Did you really think that you would be enough to satisfy him? An all-star football player with some goody goody Christian with a cross shoved up her ass saving herself for marriage? I used to have to hold myself back from laughing every time I saw you in school just thinking about it. You really are pitiful_ _."_

Shelby tried hard to maintain her composure but inside she was cracking, Regan’s words splintering though her insides with the weight of Andrew's betrayal.

Every single eye in the club was on the three of them. The sound of everyone's whispering felt like it was growing louder and louder in Shelby's ears.

Fatin's arms had gone slack around her long ago, after Regan's brutal retaliation. Shelby knew her friends were probably wearing expressions of pity and sympathy. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole so she didn't have to face any of it.

She finally looked up at Andrew, who actually had the decency to look somewhat ashamed, as tears pooled in her blue eyes.

“Andrew…” she finally managed to whisper.

Andrew shifted his eyes away from her, not responding.

Shelby felt the tears spill over and onto her cheeks.

“I need to get out of here.” Shelby turned away, pushing her way through the throngs of people who had witnessed her humiliation firsthand and ran out of the club with Dot, Leah, and Fatin calling out after her.

****

Stepping through the doors of school the next morning had been like something out of a nightmare. Shelby felt the weight of a hundred eyes upon her as she made her way to her locker to grab her things before first period. It wasn’t just the scrutiny that bothered her, but the looks of pity people cast at her had really done her in. She suddenly wasn’t feeling that great.

She has almost made it to her locker when the tell-tale signs of pressure building in her throat started making an appearance and Shelby realized she was about to throw up all over the tiled floors of the hallway.

She booked it towards the nearest bathroom, pushing past a few people and hurtling inside towards the nearest open stall. She immediately fell to her knees and emptied the contents of her stomach into the bowl.

“Ew! Gross!” A whiney, high-pitched voice echoed throughout the bathroom after hearing the noises coming from Shelby’s stall. Of course she wouldn’t be alone in here. _What’s another dang thing to add to my growing list of humiliations_ , Shelby thought to herself, bringing a hand up to wipe her mouth.

Shelby contemplated staying locked in the stall for the majority of the day. At least in here she could escape the whispers and looks of everyone who thought she must be the most pathetic person on the face of the earth. With that thought, Regan’s words from the night before rang in her ears.

_You really are pitiful._

Shelby allowed herself a minute to regain her composure before picking herself up off the floor. She exited the stall and stood in front of the sinks, leaning down to splash cold water on her face before staring at her reflection in the mirror.

She just had to get through this day. How hard could it be? All she had to do was get to first period without another incident. The reality of that happening however, was most likely slim to none.

“Reality sucks.” Shelby muttered, grabbing her things and making her way outside.

Because someone seemed to have it out for her this week, Shelby made it approximately fifty feet before a familiar voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Well, well, well…what do we have here?”

Shelby closed her eyes and felt a spike of irritation course through her, the pang rapidly settling in the pit of her stomach. She refused to turn and face the voice, waiting until the black clad girl to breeze around her and stand directly in front of her.

“Looks like the almighty Princess Goodkind is late for class.” The girl mocked. “Tsk, tsk, tsk….what would daddy think?” The brunette mocked with fake concern in her voice, piercing her with a glare.

“My. name. is. Shelby!” She spit out through clenched teeth. “What do you want, Toni?” she hissed at her.

“I’m just making conversation.” Toni replied with faux innocence.

“We don’t converse. “ Shelby replied in a clipped tone before turning heel and continuing down the hallway.

Toni pursued, already revved up by their bickering. There was just something about that blonde that lit a fire in her. Pure detestation, Toni told herself.

“So what’s caused the sudden turn towards truancy?” Toni asked nonchalantly.

Shelby stopped once more, confused by the girl’s calm demeanor. _Does she not know?_ Shelby thought. Toni did look like her normal irritating self. Permafrown etched on her face, while tan slender hands rested in the pockets of her trademark black team track jacket. Toni may have been hard to read for some, but her and Shelby had had enough encounters for Shelby to know that the girl in front of her certainly didn’t look like a person who has had their heart smashed much like Shelby’s had been the night before.

For some reason that only served to make Shelby angrier. 

“I don’t know Toni, perhaps you can ask that awful excuse for a girlfriend you have?” Shelby responded with a sneer, bitter sarcasm dripping from every word.

She clearly had Toni’s undivided attention now because the brunette was in her face in an instant, her body tensed like it was ready to attack.

“Don’t speak about Regan like that.” Toni replied, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Shelby was in no way backing down.

“I’ll speak of her any way I like, especially when she goes around stealing other people’s boyfriends.”

Toni and Shelby were eye to eye now. A spectator could have misinterpreted their body language for something romantic if it weren’t for the pure unadulterated hatred currently flying between them.

“What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Talking. About.” Toni bit out in clipped, barely restrained rage. 

“I’m talking about your whore of a girlfriend practically screwin’ my _boyfriend_ on the dancefloor at The Island on Saturday.”

The images from the previous night were rushing back. They were filling Shelby’s veins with a lethal level of fury that was about to be unleashed directly onto Toni.

Toni wasted no time in grabbing Shelby and pushing her into a row of lockers next to them. Toni glared at her, boring her steely brown eyes into Shelby’s, teeth clenched tightly, highlighting her insanely sharp cheekbones.

“I warned you.” Toni threatened.

Shelby felt her heart rate increase at the brunettes proximity and the sharp look in her eyes but she was far to incensed to back down.

“Warn me all you like Toni, it doesn’t make it any less true.”

“You’re lying!” Toni accused her.

“I was _there,_ Toni. Maybe instead of attacking me, you should be questioning your _precious Regan._ ”

Toni closed her eyes for a second as she tried to get her nerves under control and stop herself from beating Shelby into a pulp as the blonde continued.

“Because, to be honest Toni, I don’t give a damn whether you believe me or not.” And with that, she ripped away from Toni’s hold and made her way down the hall and out of sight. ________________________________________

“Need to talk to you.” Toni said firmly, pulling a surprised Regan away from the person she was talking to and around the corner into a small alcove where the water fountains were.

“Toni! I was having a conversation with someone. You can’t just-

“Is it true?” Toni interrupted her. “Please, tell me it isn’t true.”

“What isn’t true, Toni?” Regan asked with a soft voice as she ran her hand across Toni’s cheek.

Toni closed her eyes for a split second before gripping Regan’s hand and pulling it away.

“Answer me!” she ordered.

Regan took a deep breath and sighed. Making an irritated face she answered simply:

“Yes.”

“What?!” Toni couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I’ve been with Andrew. I was going to tell you-“

“When? When everyone in school already knew about it and were laughing behind my back?” Toni growled.

“I knew you wouldn’t understand.” Regan sighed annoyed.

“Of course, I don’t! Regan? I’m and yours and you are *mine*.” Toni said desperately.

“Not anymore.” Regan answered plainly.

“But-“

“It’s over Toni, I’m with Andrew now. I’m sorry.”

Regan walked away, leaving Toni standing there, silent tears streaming down her face, her heart shattering in the middle of the empty hallway.

Toni turns and slams her fist into the wall. She keeps punching, punching, punching until the skin starts breaking on her knuckles. 

“Fuck” Toni gasps out.

~+~

Shelby dragged her feet as she walked.

“They’re all looking at me.” She grumbled.

“No, they’re not.” Dot lied.

“Dot, I’m not blind or deaf. Gosh I thought gettin; this kind of scrutiny at home was bad enough. Now here? It feels unbearable.” Shelby plopped her tired body on the chair setting her tray on the table.

“It’ll all blow over in a couple of weeks, when they get another thing to gossip about. I mean fuck, they should be talking about how Ricky Simpson got caught fucking Trevor Miller’s Mom. Can’t believe that shit flew under the radar” Fatin shrugged, taking a sip of her diet coke 

“Holy shit is that true?” Leah asked. 

“Of course. I mean I filmed it.” Fatin laughed.

“You are so bad- Oh, Gosh no!” Shelby breathed as she saw Andrew walking into the cafeteria, his arms draped across Regan’s shoulders. 

“Shelbs, just calm down.”

“I swear, by the end of the year I’m gonna break something off of him.” The blonde hissed between clenched teeth as she furiously pounded her fork into her salad.

“Um what would Jesus say?” Dot asked, watching Shelby continue to pulverize a baby tomato. 

“I think in this case Jesus might make an exception” Shelby looked at her plate. “Um... sorry. I think I’ve lost my ap-”

A loud banging sound was heard as the trio turned, just in time to see Andrew crash into Finn Blackburn, sending them both spiraling over the freshly waxed floor. A very pissed Toni hovered over them.

“You stay away from Regan.” She growled.

Quickly, Andrew stood on his feet and stood head to head with her. .

“Or what?” he shot back.

Toni’s answer came in the form of a punch and soon someone was yelling off the top of their lungs:

“Fight!”

A group of students screamed and cheered enthusiastically, coming to circle the fighting pair as the two exchanged hard blows.

“What is going on here?” A loud booming voice was heard and everyone turned to see principal Young standing by the door.

The crowd quickly dispersed to reveal the roughed up pair frozen in position.

“You two…” Young started, the intense pleasure evident as he spoke. “Are getting detention for a week and believe me your coaches will be hearing about this.”

Toni and Andrew still had time to exchange a dirty look as they untangled themselves. 

“You’ll pay for that, dyke.” Andrew spat at her. 

Toni lunged at him again ready to knock his teeth back into his esophagus when Principal Young grabbed her. “That’s two weeks detention for you Shalifoe. Now knock it off before you get benched for the rest of the season. “That’s bullshit, Principal Young-“ “Not another word. Both of you in my office, now.” They both grumbled under their breath but walked after the tall bald man.

~+~

“Poor Toni.” Dot sighed as she sat on the bench next to Leah and Fatin..

“Poor Toni? What about me? Publicly humiliated at The Island, remember?” Shelby protested as she walked around in circles in front of her “Oh, you too, but…Toni, well… you know, she’s been crazy about Regan ever since I can remember and to see her longtime girlfriend going around macking on Andrew can’t be giving her any warm gooey feelings.” Dot tried to explain.

“Who cares about Toni and warm, gooey feelings? I doubt she even has any feelings at all. She’s a headcase and she probably got what she deserved.” Shelby grumbled under her breath.

“As much as I love to bag on practically everyone and anyone I have to agree with Dot on this one. Toni’s always been head over heels for Regan; she worships the ground she walks on. No, actually any ground in the near vicinity of that girl!” Fatin corrected herself. “Besides isn’t that that a little harsh? Doesn’t the bible tell you to be excellent to one another or some shit?” 

“Pretty sure that’s Bill and Ted dude.” Dot laughed.

Shelby’s response was a heavy sigh paired with an annoyed roll of her green eyes.

“They’ve been together ever since Toni moved here, and you and Andrew have only been dating since this summer, you can’t comp-“ Seeing the deadly look the blonde was shooting at her, Leah quickly added: “Ok, shutting up now for fear of seriously irreparable head trauma.”

Exhaling sharply, Shelby plopped on the bench, between Leah, Dot, and Fatin.

I hate this.” She grumbled.

“Shelby, you…” Dot trailed off as she saw a fairly battered Andree walk out into the patio.

The other girls glanced in the direction of the Dot’s frozen gaze to see Regan running hysterically towards Andrew, wet handkerchief in her hand, ready to nurse his bleeding lip.

“Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not kill..” Shelby whispered the mantra, which her friends easily picked up. The girls were scared Shelby may have finally snapped.

The entire patio came to a screeching halt as they saw Toni walk out a few moments after Andrew. Everyone froze to see what would happen. Those who expected a big scene or another bloody fist fight were clearly disappointed as Toni simply glanced at the couple and walked away with a bowed head as she balled her fists into the pockets of her jacket.

“You can seriously tell me you don’t feel sorry for the girl?” Leah asked incredulous.

“Hum… No?” Was Shelby’s sarcastic answer. “I’m too occupied with hating Andrew and that homewrecker to feel any sort of empathy for anyone, especially not that impossible idiot.”

“Why do you hate her so much?” Dot questioned. She had never quite understood it.

“Ok, need I remind you the first time I met her was when she was pulling my pony tail and screaming off the top of her lungs ‘Colonizer ahead, danger, danger’ ?”

Dot’s eyebrows came together in a frown as she remembered Shelby’s humiliation. Fatin laughed earning a glare from the blonde.

“What it’s funny!” Fatin defended herself.

“Whatever, she’s just so full of herself, and cocky and annoying as hell and she’s always angry and her stupid hair with those braids. Like who does she think she is? Plus her stupid voice and her stupid eyes. She’s an idiot!” Shelby finished exasperated. Obviously her friends should be able to get why Toni was meant to be loathed by her clearly negative description.

“That’s…a lot of detail.” Fatin noted sarcastically, but it soon crumbled as Shelby narrowed her eyes at her.

“I just don’t like her that’s all. I’ve tried ya’ll, really I have but all she’s done is make my high school life a living hell since she first came here.” 

________________________________________

The days passed and eventually the looks thrown in Shelby’s direction lessened. She walked briskly through the halls, clutching her books against her chest as she looked at her watch. She sighed in relief when she reached her destination and stood quietly peeping through the gap between the large stands. She still caught the last 5 minutes of football practice and watched Andrew run through the field.

“Shelby, there you are!” Dot sighed in relief.

The blonde jumped up hitting her head on the stand above her.

“Gosh dang it! Dot, what’re you doing here?” Shelby grumbled as she scratched the sore spot on her skull.

“Watching you torture yourself into insanity.” Dot stated tilting her head towards the field.

“I-I wasn’t… I…” She tried to explain but it was no use, she got caught.

“You’ve been following Andrew around for weeks now, you have to move on.” Dot pleaded.

“I’ll move on when I see him on his knees begging me for forgiveness.” Shelby set her mouth in a straight line to show her resolve.

“You still want him back, don’t you?” Dot asked.

“What? No!” The blonde answered truthfully. “I just want to see him suffer and grovel at my feet so I can tell him ‘You’ve missed your chance.’” An evil revengeful glow sparkled in her eyes as she spoke, clearly envisioning her moment of triumph.

“Who are you and what have you done with Shelby? I’ve never see you like this…” Dot was at a loss. Shelby started walking away.

“Maybe this is the real me? Maybe I’m tired of being little miss nice girl all the time. Don’t try to talk me out of this Dot. I’ll find a way to get him, and until I do I’ll just follow him!”

****

Shelby walked quietly several feet behind Andrew so she would remain unnoticed. She already knew where he was going. It was Friday night, he was obviously going to pick her up. Bastard!

As the dimly lit house came into view, Shelby left the sidewalk and hid behind the tall bushes. She heard the unnatural rustle of leaves and looked up at the nearest tree.

“Oh, Gosh! What a freak!” She whispered to herself at the sight of Toni in all her glory, moving between branches, straining to see what was going down on the front porch of the house.

She picked up a long stick near the base of the tree and reached up to poke Toni on her ass. Startled, Toni lost her balance and tumbled down the tree, falling on her ass with a thud.

“What was that?” They heard Andrew ask.

“Probably just a cat.” A clearly feminine voice answered. It was Regan.

Toni looked up to see Shelby towering over her, a smug look on her face.

“You’re pathet-“

A flash of white hot anger coursed through Toni and in a blink of an eye she was up, her hand covering Shelby’s mouth her body crushing hers against the tree she had just fallen off of.

“Shut the fuck up” Toni hissed.

They glared silently at one another till Toni felt a sharp pain in the palm of her hand and instinctively pulled her hand away from Shelby’s mouth.

“Ow what the fuck!” Toni hissed as she checked her hand for any sign of injury. Sure enough she found a small, but deep and flaming red bite mark. “Did you just bite me?”

“You’re pathetic, you know that?” Shelby hissed at her. “Skulking in the dark and spying on your ex.”

“I’m pathetic? You mean to tell me you’re not here because you’ve been following that walking case of HPV back there?” Toni countered tilting her head towards the house.

“I think you mean Regan.” Shelby countered. Toni squared up with a snarl but decided to use her words instead of her fists for once. 

“Please, you’ve been walking around the school following him like a little stalker all week. What’s the matter princess? Don’t know what to do without your daily dry hump to keep the sins at bay?” Toni asked with a cocky grin.

“Well at least I don’t go around climbing trees and making poor little lost puppy eyes every time I see my ex.” Shelby weakly argued.

”Yeah well fucking sue me for not wanting to lose one more person in my life that I care about.” Toni confessed.

Shelby didn’t even know what to say to that, surprised by Toni’s honestly. It was obvious by the expression on her face that Toni didn’t mean for that to come out either. “Well I guess in a way I can understand and respect that.” Shelby replied honestly. 

“I love Regan, I’ve always loved her, ever since I can remember. I’m not gonna lose her to some rich white fuckboy.” She stated.

“Oh, now that’s just sad.” The blonde looked at her with pity.

“Like you’re not dying to have him back? All he’d have to do is ask and you’d go crawling back on your knees? Anything to keep up that image of perfection huh little miss priss?” Toni growled. But she didn’t have much time to gloat as she felt an excruciating pain take over her leg as Shelby’s boot clad foot connected with her shin.

“Fucking bitch!” Shelby snorted, seeing Toni stumble to the ground, clutching her leg as she repressed a much-needed groan.

Feeling victorious, Shelby turned on her heels and walked away.

****

Dot hugged her books against her chest as she walked side by side with Shelby, Leah, and Fatin. She took in a deep breath, exhaling sharply as she entered the familiar building.

“Ah… Monday! Don’t you just love it?” Dot asked with a huge satisfied grin on her face.

Fatin looked at her like she grew a second head..

“Are you fucking high right now Campbell?”

“Me, no. The student body this week, well they definitely will be.” Dot laughed and pulled out a thick wad of cash out of her front pocket.

“Holy shit! Nice score Campbell?” Fatin exclaimed grabbing the wad from Dot’s hands and starting to count. She lets out a whistle. “This is like almost as much as I got for hawking my dad’s Rolex after I caught him cheating on my mom.” 

”Dot you really shouldn’t be doing that in school. What if you get caught?” Shelby asked, concerned. 

“Ah, lighten up Goodkind. Let the business woman do her thang.” 

“I just don’t want you getting into -Toni! “Shelby is interrupted by the annoyed brunette who has seemly come out of nowhere dressed head to toe in her black basketball tracksuit blocking her path.

“Need to talk to you, Princess!” She said with a dry voice, throwing a glance towards the other girls.

“It’s Shelby.” She hissed, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “And I can’t now, I have classes.” Shelby tried to move around her, but Toni took a step and once again right in front of her.

“It won’t take long.” Toni grumbled.

It was clear Toni didn’t want to be there. She scanned the hall and saw several people looking extremely confused at their proximity to one another. It was easy to understand why. Everyone at that school knew the seething hatred that the pair nurtured for the other. Obviously, they expected the usual shouting, swearing and occasional fists flying that usually developed within five minutes of the two being within five feet of each other. This time it wasn’t happening. Why? All the students wondered as they watched Shelby sigh and signal for the other girls to go on without her.

“What do you want, Toni?” Shelby sighed, her patience waning.

“To talk to you.” Toni explained.

“I’m here. Talk.”

“Not here.” Toni frowned, throwing evil glances at all the students that stared at them, before grabbing Shelby by her arm and dragging her out of there.

________________________________________

“Ouch! That hurts!” Shelby protested, trying to pull her arm out of Toni’s grip but failing. “Let go!” she practically screamed as they rounded a corner and reached the back of the school.

Toni came to a halt and let go of her arm.

“That hurt, you heathen.” Shelby grumbled rubbing her sore arm. She continued a string of curses as she realized that the next day she would have finger-shaper bruises on her skin from Toni’s not too delicate handling. “Stupid, idiot, brainless, asshole.”

“You say your prayers with that mouth?” Toni asked, finding herself amused more than irritated at the blonde’s tirade. p>

“Be quiet, I wasn’t done! You’re also a neanderthal and were clearly raised in the wild by forest trolls who never taught you the slightest basics of human interaction.” She protested again. “What do you want?”

Toni ignored added commentary.  
“Regan back.” She answered simply.

Shelby paused for a second before speaking.

“Ok, I realize you’re a bit slow and all but…” She began to speak slowly, exaggeration in the articulation of the words: “I. Am. *Not*. Regan.” She tilted her head towards Toni, as if trying to ascertain if she had understood her.

“Oh, Regan you’re *definitely not*.” Toni said with a sarcastic tone. The way she said it made Shelby flinch.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s not go down that road.” Toni quickly tried to change the subject. If she wanted Shelby’s help, offending her was definitely not the way to get it. “I think we can help each other. You want Andrew, I want Regan, we should join forces.” Toni concluded.

“Two things: I would never, ever join *anything*with you and I don’t want Andrew back. I just want him to contract a very painful venereal disease that involves the decaying and falling off of his private parts.” Shelby finished her statement with a huge grin.

Toni couldn’t help but grimace at the imagery. Shaking herself out of that bad place in her mind that involved any sort of acknowledgement of male genitals she spoke:

/

“Jesus you really take the whole woman scorned thing seriously huh? You really don’t want Andrew? You’ve been following him like everywhere since you broke up.” Toni pointed out the obvious.

“Yeah following him until I find the best way to inflict maximum pain to that cheating bastard.” Shelby explained harshly.

Toni paused for second, pondering the new development. Annoyed, Shelby sighed and began to walk away. Clearly this was just another day of Toni being annoying and completely wasting her time as usual.

“How about having him head over heels for you again?” Toni offered.

Shelby cocked an eyebrow, coming to a halt:

“I’m listening.”

“I can help you get him back. Even if you show him you don’t want him, he’ll be groveling at your feet.” Toni started to explain.

“Groveling is good.” Shelby said simply as she waited to hear the rest of the plan.

“And at the same time I can get Regan back.”

“So what do I have to do?” She inquired.

“Pretendtobemygirlfriend.” Toni said in one breath.

“What?!” Shelby yelped. “Have your braids been pulled so tight that they’ve caused your brain irreparable damage?” She questioned incredulous. “And besides…I’m not...like that.”

The way Shelby said that comment made Toni still. “Like what?” She began to sneer. “A raging dyke like me?”

“No.” Shelby exclaimed vehemently. “I didn’t mean it like that I swear. I just mean, well…I’m straight is all. What would people say? What would they even think?” Shelby stuttered nervously, feeling her cheeks flame just thinking about it. 

“Who fucking cares!?” 

“I do! I have certain expectati-“

“But wouldn’t this prove Andrew and everyone wrong? That you’re not just some goody goody church girl? That you can be edgy and daring and bold?” 

Bold. God the way Toni said that. With so much passion in her voice. Shelby felt a pang deep in her stomach, wanting to feel like that more than anything. Wondering what it would feel like to be truly free. 

“Besides the moment the two of them see us together they’ll go nuts with jealousy. Regan still loves me I know it.” Toni quickly explained.

“What about Andrew?” She cocked her head.

“He never could stand seeing me and Regan happy. That’s why he’s after her. If he sees me with you, he’ll want you.”

“You’ve had too many basketballs thrown at your head, haven’t you?” Shelby asked sincerely.

“No. I’m telling you it’ll work. Trust me. I know Andrew. I know all guys like him.”

“Trust? You? Oh now you’ve definitely lost it.” Shelby laughed.

”Uh!” Toni threw her hands up in frustration clearly getting nowhere with her. “Fine forget I even said anything. We can just go back to our regular schedule of hating each other and you can go back to pining away for your ex behind the bleachers. I don’t fucking care.” 

There was a moment of silence. Shelby scanned the outlying football field recognizing the form of Andrew. In the distance she saw Regan clapping hysterically at each successful pass he performed. She felt her stomach twist in disgust. Without turning to look at Toni behind her she asked:

“What do I need to do?”

“Hang out with me. People have to see us together, holding hands, hugging and such.” Toni explained.

“No, nooooo way in hell!” Shelby shook her head emphatically waving her arms around in a clear sign of disagreement as she turned to face her. “I’m not touching you!”

For Shelby’s sake, Toni was going to take that comment to allude to their burning hatred for one another and not some deep-seated homophobia Shelby may be harboring. “You don’t see me hopping around singing ‘Oh, joy! Oh, joy!’ either, princess.”

“Ok, fine.” Shelby agreed reluctantly. “But we hang out with *my* crowd.”

“What? No!” It was Toni’ turn to shake her head.

“I’m not going anywhere near your obnoxious jock friends. No way and that’s final. We do it my way or it’s off.” Shelby crossed her arms over her chest and set her lips in a straight line waiting for Toni’s answer.

Eventually, she gave up. She shook her head and mumbled:

“Fine, but I’m co-opting Marty into that friend circle, and that’s non negotiable. Where I go, she goes.

Shelby shared a few classes with Marty and new the girl to be nothing but an absolute sweetheart. She had no idea why the girl was best friends with a hot head like Toni of all people. Shelby chalked it up to being another one of gods mysteries.

“Fine Marty is welcome to hang with us anytime. When do we start?”

“Umm… tomorrow?”

“Ok, tomorrow we’re officially a ‘couple.’” Shelby said making air quotes. 

“One more thing. No one can know about our little deal or it’s off. This has to look ‘real’” Toni air quoted, mocking her back.

“Of course. Otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of it, now wouldn’t it?”

“Just making sure. No telling your friends, especially Fatin. Everyone knows how big that girl’s mouth is. She could collapse a fucking empire with her gossip.”  
Shelby would have jumped to Fatin’s defense if she didn’t know that it was one hundred percent true.

“Fine no telling anyone. Agreed.!” She agreed looking at her watch. “Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!” she cursed. “I’m late!” looking up at Toni with a deadly gaze she added: “This is all your fault. I hate you!”

“Same here!” Toni shouted after her, watching her run to her next class.

****

Shelby exhaled sharply as she entered the house, dragging her aching feet on the floor plopping down on the couch with closed eyes and sighing. Her heavy eyelids shot open when she heard a deep laughter coming from the kitchen.

“Dad…” she whispered to herself, forcing her tired body to stand.

As she reached the threshold of the tiled room her jaw fell to the floor. There, around the isle, sat her day and…

“Toni?” She asked incredulous.

The brunette muffled her laughter at the sight of the blonde.

“What are you doing here?” Shelby inquired as she noticed the glass of sweet tea set in front of Toni.

“You’re friend Antonia came by to get your notes from English class.” Dave Goodkind explained standing and walking toward the counter, picking up a pitcher. “More tea?”

“Antonia?” Shelby mouthed the name to Toni. Shelby wanted to laugh but was kind of horror struck at the sight of Toni in her house with her father of all people.

Toni shot her a dirty look before answering Dave.

“No thank you Mr. Goodkind. I’ll just get those notes from Shelby and I’ll be on my way.”

Toni stood up as she spoke, walking towards Shelby and discreetly, wormed her long fingers around her arm, dragging her to the hall. Shelby trying to suppress the shivers from Toni’s touch as she followed behind her.

“Antonia?” She repeated, this time she wasn’t able to suppress the chuckle.

“What?” Toni grumbled.

“Sorry, I just never knew you were an Antonia. It’s just such a…” Shelby pondered her words. “… delicate name.”

Toni forced a fake smile on her lips for a glimpse of a second before snarling:

“What’s wrong with Antonia?”

“Nothing. Just forget it.” Shelby shook her head. “What do you want, Satan?”

Toni faux gasped at the insult. “Ms. Goodkind haven’t you heard that God is always listening?”

“What. Do. You. Want. Toni?” Shelby grit out, patience growing thin.

“We have to talk about tomorrow.”

Shelby looked over Toni’s shoulder and noticed her dad straining to hear what they were saying. Suddenly filled with dread and not wanting to be under his scrutiny a second longer Shelby tilted her head toward the stairs and made her way up, with Toni following her close behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support so far. If you couldn't tell so far I love this ship and  
> I am a ride or die for Shelby =)

"Speak." Shelby said entering her bedroom.

Toni remained silent for a moment, scanning her eyes around the blonde’s room. Dozens of cheerleading trophies and pageant sashes littered the blonde’s dresser to the right. A king sized four poster bed in the middle of the room had small sting lights wrapped around the posts. The bed was larger than anything Toni could even dream of having. In the middle of the bed on top of the pillow sat a small goat stuffed animal. It made Toni smirk. 

"What?" Shelby asked annoyed.

"Nothing." Toni mumbled, shaking her head.

"So, what about tomorrow?" Shelby sighed audibly. 

"We have to figure out the details."

"Such as?"

"What do we tell your friends?" 

"That a piano landed on my head and suddenly I’m very much into women and going out with you doesn't seem as revolting as it should?" Shelby quipped looking up at Toni with a boastful grin.

"Hilarious.” Toni replied, deadpan. 

Shelby let herself fall back on her bed. Toni pretended not to notice the sliver of abdomen exposed by Shelby’s shirt riding up and instead focused acutely at the lamp on the nightstand nearby. 

"I don't know what to tell them." Shelby mumbled as she stared up at the ceiling. 

"Well, we have to come up with something convincing."

Shelby turned her head towards Toni and made a face. "This is too much. I don't think this is such a good idea anymore."

"Oh, come on, blondie! You can't back out now. It's just for a few of days. If I can stand it so can you. I mean, don't you want to have that asshole groveling and drooling all over you again? Just imagine him on his knees begging for you to come back to him and you telling him to get a life in front of the whole school." Desperation was clear in Toni’s voice.

Images matching the description Toni had made flashed before her eyes and Shelby felt the overwhelming rush of power and vengeance course through her veins. She exhaled sharply and sat up on the bed.

"Ok! I'll do it." She agreed, causing Toni to sigh in relief. "But first you are definitely going to have to memorize my name. It's _Shelby _. Get it through that thick head of yours. Shel-by. It's not that hard."__

__Toni nodded and sat down on the bed next to her. Shelby tried not to flinch at the brunette’s proximity. She swallowed thickly and continued._ _

__"As for my friends, I'll just tell them that... I changed my mind. I don't know. I'll just say that..." She looked up at the ceiling as she pondered. "I got it!" She piped up triumphantly. "I'll say that I was being mugged and that you came in the nick of time and saved me. It's genius!" She congratulated herself._ _

__"Mugged. " Toni said in disbelief. “You really think they are going to believe that?”_ _

__“What do you want me to say? That we crashed landed on some desert island somewhere and had to rely on only each other to survive and through all the struggles fell madly and deeply in love?”_ _

__“I mean, if you put it that way.” Toni replied, rolling her eyes. “I guess me being the badass in the situation and saving you from some crazed psycho isn’t a bad look for me. Could be great for my rep. Plus Regan digs that knight in shining armor shit.”_ _

__Shelby rolled her eyes. Of course, it was all about Toni and her dang ego and her precious little Regan._ _

__"Mugging happens every day. Besides, danger and extreme situations have been known to bring people closer together.” She shrugged. "But we can't just tell them that all of a sudden that we are... you know..." Her index finger danced between them, alternating between pointing at Toni and at herself._ _

__"Hooking up?" Toni offered._ _

__Shelby swatted at Toni’s shoulder scrunching her nose a bit in distaste. “Yes…that. It'll have to take time. Be gradual. Otherwise, no one's gonna go for it. I mean, everyone at that school knows we hate each other's guts."_ _

__"And that you’re straight." Toni reminded her._ _

__“Right and that.” Shelby said quickly as if that should be automatically implied, completely forgetting to put that at the top of the all-time reasons they would never be remotely together. Which it was._ _

__"If we go to intense from the start my friends are going to know something of off. Well…I guess besides Fatin. She definitely believes hate sex is one of the fundamentals of foreplay.”_ _

__“Woah now, who says we’re having sex Miss Goodkind?” Toni drawled in a fake southern accent making Shelby immediately flush. She quickly reached out to cover Toni’s mouth with her hand._ _

__“Will you lower your voice.” Shelby hissed. “My dad is right downstairs. Besides, I didn’t…I mean…I wouldn’t-” Shelby sputtered._ _

__Toni felt bad seeing the pure terror flash in Shelby’s eyes. She decided to cut her a break for once. She gently removed Shelby’s hand from her mouth and lowered her voice to a whisper._ _

__“Relax blondie, I was just kidding.” Toni laughed._ _

__Shelby lets out a breath, relieved._ _

__“So what’s the game plan for tomorrow? Whatever you want to do, I’ll co-sign.”_ _

__“Really?” The blonde said, honestly surprised how calm and easy-going Toni was being. In fact, she realized that they had managed to be incredibly civil with one another for the entirety of their conversation. Shelby hoped this wasn’t a sign of something apocalyptic bout to happen._ _

__“Yes really.” Toni assured her. “I want this to go smoothly so I can get my girlfriend back. This has to work.”_ _

__“Right.” Shelby swallowed, the plan. The whole reason they were even speaking to begin with._ _

__"We take it slow. You'll sit with us at lunch. Something like that. No touching, no nothing. Just friendly talking." "What do we talk about?"_ _

__"I don't know. We'll figure it out as we go along."_ _

__“Give me your phone.”_ _

__“What? Why?”_ _

__“Just give me your phone.” Toni asks again, gently._ _

__Shelby digs into the back pocket of her jeans and pulls her phone out, handing it over to Toni who takes it and quickly types something in before handing it back to her._ _

__“Makes it easier, you know if we need to talk about the plan.”_ _

__“The plan.” Shelby nods. “Right.”_ _

__~+~_ _

__Dave Goodkind’s ears perked as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He got up from his armchair in the adjoining room to meet the girls in the foyer._ _

__"So, did you get those notes?" Dave asked Toni, who had whirled around at his question._ _

__"What?"_ _

__"The notes you needed from Shelby?"_ _

__"Oh, those! Yes, Mr. Goodkind, right here.” Toni held up a notebook, Shelby had shoved in her hands prior to leaving her room. “Thank you again for your hospitality, it was so nice to meet you.” Toni hoped the smile on her face appeared genuine._ _

__“It was my pleasure Antonia, I’m happy my Shelby was able to help you out.”_ _

__“Oh yeah, she’s _such_ a help.” Toni replied, a fake saccharine smile plastered on her face. _ _

__Dave raised an eyebrow at that but kept his smile in place._ _

__Shelby stood there dumbfounded. Had her dad and Toni been abducted by aliens and replaced by pod people? Because nothing that was happening in front of her made sense._ _

__An awkward silence filtered between the three and Shelby was the one to break it: "Well, you gotta go do that... thing. Don't you?"_ _

__"Hum... Yeah! I do. Gotta go. I'm actually late." Toni said quickly heading for the door. "Thank you again Mr. Goodkind. Good evening.”_ _

__Shelby closed the door behind her and turned around to brace herself for another one of her dad’s tirades about who she was spending her time with, only this time it never came._ _

__“Nice girl.” Dave said. “I don’t know about basketball being the most ladylike sport but I guess sometimes we shouldn’t question the gifts God bestows upon others.”_ _

__“Yes, absolutely.” Shelby said, slightly stunned. Did her dad actually like _Toni_ of all people?_ _

__“You should set up a double date or something with Andrew and Jason.”_ _

__“Jason?” Shelby asked, confused. Who the heck was Jason?_ _

__“Yeah, Antonia’s boyfriend. Plays football with Andrew? She couldn’t stop talking about him before you got home.”_ _

__Shelby hoped she picked up her hanging jaw fast enough before her father saw because she absolutely could not be hearing that right. Toni with a boyfriend? She stifled the need to burst out laughing. Not wanting her dad to pick up on anything unusual and certainly not wanting him to be aware of anything wrong with her and Andrew, Shelby plastered a fake smile on her face._ _

__“Oh Jason. Of course! What a great idea, Daddy. Andrew would love that.”_ _

__Dave just smiled at her._ _

__“Well, I have to get up early for cheer practice tomorrow so I think I’m just going to head to bed.”_ _

__“Alright, night sweetie.”_ _

__“Night Daddy.”_ _

__Shelby couldn’t get up the stairs fast enough. She quickly closed her bedroom door behind her. Shelby dug her phone out of her back pocket before going to lay down on her bed. She quickly scrolled through her contacts trying to find Toni’s number that was entered earlier. She stopped on a new entry, rolling her eyes. Clicking on it, she writes out a message to the contact labeled: **Divine Native Goddess**_ _

__**Shelby: Cute** _ _

__**Divine Native Goddess: I think so too ;)** _ _

__Shelby takes a screenshot of her phone showing Toni now saved in her phone at “ Insufferable Idiot” and sends it to Toni._ _

__**Shelby: That’s more accurate, I think.** _ _

__**Toni: Aw you’re going to break my heart.** _ _

__**Shelby: What would Jason think?** _ _

__**Toni: You liked that huh?** _ _

__**Shelby: What made you even think to do that?** _ _

__**Toni: No offense, but I know how to sniff a bigot out a mile away. I’ve met more than my share since moving here and your dad seems like he’s definitely more in the gays burn in hell camp than not. I guess I just figured it would be easier for us to do what we’re doing if your dad thought I was some nice wholesome straight girl.** _ _

__Shelby was honestly stunned. As much as she wanted to defend her father, Toni was right. He was a bigot. If Toni were one hundred percent her true self tonight who knows what her father would have thought or done? The fact that Toni even thought about that…thought about the situation…and maybe even about her to lie like that. She didn’t even know what to say. She decided to just carry on without acknowledging how surprisingly thoughtful Toni had been._ _

__**Shelby: I can’t believe you would pretend to be straight. Ironically enough my dad actually likes you. Well _Antonia_ , that is.** _ _

__**Toni: Perfect haha. Then he won’t suspect anything. The plan is officially a go.** _ _

__“Officially a go.” Shelby said aloud to herself. She quickly texted Toni goodnight, getting up to get ready for bed and steeling herself to face her friends tomorrow._ _

__~+~_ _

__Dot mindlessly at her fries as her eyes scanned the cafeteria. Suddenly, they widened as she saw certain brooding brunette and her shorter sidekick Marty heading their way and eventually sitting next to Shelby, dropping her tray next to hers, Marty settling beside her._ _

__"Sup!" Toni greeted._ _

__Everyone at the cafeteria froze, including Fatin, who currently had a leaf of Romaine caught on her lip from the pure shock of what was happening in front of her._ _

__"Hey!" Dot calmly replied, desperate to keep the peace of whatever the fuck this was._ _

__Shelby braced herself as she noticed the questioning looks her friends were shooting at her._ _

__"Hi Toni.” She spoke up in a low voice; her eyes never diverting from her plate. It wasn't a very pretty sight, but at least it kept her safe from the hundreds of eyes that fell upon her._ _

__"So..." Toni tried to start up a conversation, but it seemed impossible considering the near catatonic state the table she sat at was in._ _

__"Hey I’m Dot" The girl introduced herself, outstretching her hand to Marty._ _

__“Marty.” The girl replied. “No clue what’s going on but nice to meet you.”_ _

__Leave it to Marty to be the calm and collected ice breaker._ _

__“Toni.” The brunette waved to the table._ _

__“Yeah, I know.” Dot replied. We’ve been in the same math classes for like two years.”_ _

__“Right.” Toni replied, feeling embarrassed for not realizing that._ _

__“This is Fatin and Leah.” Shelby offered, trying to make this situation less awkward._ _

__The silence at the table seemed heightened by the low whispering that now plagued the cafeteria._ _

__"Why are you here?" Fatin finally managed to snap out of her daze._ _

__"Just felt like sitting with the damsel in distress here." Toni answered, popping open the bag of Takis on her tray._ _

__"Damsel in distress? What in the Gone with the Fucking Wind are you talking about?" Fatin replied._ _

__"Well I found blondie-" Toni winced as Shelby kicked her under the table. "Hum... Shelby, here about to be mugged in the H-E-B parking lot and I just happened to be walking by and saved her life. No big deal.”_ _

__"You saved Shelby from being robbed?" Leah finally asked, impressed. “That’s like so badass.”_ _

__“I know right? I mean I totally bodied this dude. And he wasn't small either. Big, beefy, six feet and a half. Huge, giant- Fuck!"_ _

__Toni winced as Shelby once again aimed the heel of her boot to the sensitive flesh of her shin._ _

__"She’s exaggerating." The blonde intervened giving the table a wide, plastic smile._ _

__"No, I'm not. He was huge and he had a gun-"_ _

__"No, he didn't!" Shelby cut Toni off shooting fireballs from her green eyes._ _

__"Yes, he did. You just didn't see it." Toni insisted._ _

__"No, he didn't."_ _

__"Yes, he did."_ _

__"No, he -"_ _

__"Someone please stop them." Dot pleaded._ _

__"I-I think that the important thing is that you're safe and nothing bad happened." Leah, ever the diplomat intervened._ _

__Shelby and Toni eyed each other in veiled disgust, eventually returning their attention to their plates. The rest of the meal was spent in an awkward silence._ _

__"Well, we better go." Shelby suddenly stood up as the stillness finally got to her._ _

__"Yeah. Classes and all." Toni agreed following Shelby and leaving the other four girls alone to stare at each other._ _

__“Don’t ask me. I’m just as confused as you are.” Marty replied._ _

__~+~_ _

__"What were you thinking?" Shelby shrieked as she strode quickly down the empty hallway._ _

__"I was just doing what you told me to." Toni defended herself as she quickened her pace to catch up to her._ _

__"Six feet and a half? And with a gun?" Shelby stopped to look at her, incredulous._ _

__"What? So, I embellished." Toni admitted._ _

__"Embellish? You call that embellish?" She asked with a frown. "I think you should buy yourself a dictionary because that was definitely not embellishing. Embellishing doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean, do you honestly think that they would believe you. How dumb do you think they are?"_ _

__Shelby saw the cocky grin starting to spread over Toni lips and quickly added: "Don't answer that."_ _

__With a loud sigh she began walking again, making sure the hallway was empty of eavesdroppers._ _

__"I wanted to make the story a little more interesting." Toni tried to explain herself._ _

__"Interesting? No, you just wanted to make yourself look cool. I thought we were aiming for believable." She snarled, without dispensing Toni a glance._ _

__Toni grabbed her arm. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?" She apologized._ _

__Shelby shrugged Toni’s arm off of her. "Sorry?" She started but Toni interrupted her._ _

__"Ok, could you please stop repeating every word I say? It's really starting to piss me off."_ _

__"Ugh!" Shelby growled pushing the door at the end of the hallway open to enter the empty stairwell._ _

__“Look this is clearly not working.” Shelby explained. “If you think my friends believed that for a second -"_ _

__“Of course they did.” Toni rationalized._ _

__“Hello, we’re we sitting at the same table? I wouldn’t exactly call your brainless fabrications successful.”_ _

__“Brainless!?” Toni replied, incensed unable to help herself from letting Shelby rile her up. “Like it’s so unbelievable that you could be a victim?”_ _

__“VICTIM!?” Oh, Shelby was really pissed now. She got almost nose to nose with Toni. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”_ _

__Toni matched her intensity, feeling the fire grow within the pit of her stomach. “It means you’re so good at playing the role every day of your damn life. What should it matter if we add another story to the pile of bullshit you spin on the daily, blondie?”_ _

__Shelby felt a white-hot rage unlike anything she’s ever felt before spread throughout her entire body. She fisted Toni’s shirt in her hands and slammed the girl into the nearby wall and snarled into her face. “For the last fucking time, **IT’S SHELBY!** ” She screamed, before dropping her voice into a dangerous whisper. “And you don’t know what the _fuck_ you’re talking about.” _ _

__Toni prayed to god there was nothing on her face to express how turned on she was at the blonde’s show of aggression. Hey body felt out of her control. It was sick! It must have been some mistake. Her body reacting wrong to whatever the fuck this was. She needed to cool this down, and fast before she did something stupid._ _

__"I'm sorry." Toni mumbled, attempting to pacify her._ _

__Shelby’s expression was still full of pent up rage and something else that Toni couldn’t quite put her finger on._ _

__"I need for this to work..." Toni started after swallowing hard. "I-I need her back. I need Regan with me or..." The words got stuck in Toni’s throat._ _

__Somewhere, deep, deep inside Shelby, she felt a hint of pity for Toni but before she could stop herself, harsh words escaped her parted lips:_ _

__"You're not gonna cry, are you?"_ _

__Toni froze, feeling as if someone had just punched her hard in the stomach. Looking up, she narrowed her eyes, instant anger flashing in them._ _

__"Fuck you." She snarled, turning on her heels and slamming her way through the doors of the stairwell, disappearing into the hallway and out of sight._ _

__Shelby stood there for a second, guilt filling her for letting her anger get the better of her. She contemplated going after Toni, but ultimately decided against it._ _

__“Dang it.” She mumbled to herself._ _

__~+~_ _

__Shelby let her head fall limply to the desk during her AP history class, while in the background Mrs. Wallace's monotonous voice rambled on about the importance of Truman’s goal to contain communism during the Cold War._ _

__"God! Please just let this be over and my suffering." She mumbled between clenched teeth._ _

__As if someone had answered her prayer the bell rang out. In a flash, the petite blonde straightened up, looking wide eyed at the round clock up on the wall._ _

__"Praise Jesus!" she sang out, gathering her books and stuffing them into her backpack. "I survived! Thank God this Friday's over"_ _

__"You really hate history, don't you?" Dot asked as Shelby and they both gathered their things._ _

__"More than anything in the entire world." Shelby answer as she walked out of the classroom followed by Dot. Shelby came to a halt as she saw Toni approaching from further down the hall. "Correction: it's the second thing I hate most in the world."_ _

__Dot sighed audibly as they made their way down the large corridor stopping by Shelby's locker. "So we are back to hating Toni?" Dot asked._ _

__"What?" Shelby responded absentmindedly as she rummaged through the contents of her locker._ _

__"Hating Toni? Back on the priority list?" Dot clarified._ _

__"Oh, top priority! I'm definitely over my momentary lapse of judgement on that one." Shelby nodded emphatically handing her books to Dot. "Hold these for a second, please."_ _

__"Cool, cause that little episode in the cafeteria yesterday just seemed... wrong."_ _

__Shelby smiled reaching to take the books back from her best friend when the conversation going on a few feet away from them caught her attention._ _

__"Come on babe. Just for a second. I need to talk to you." Toni's begging tone made Shelby's stomach clench as she turned to see the brunette teen leaning on the row of lockers lined up against opposite wall of the corridor._ _

__She watched as Toni pleaded with an unyielding and impassive Regan._ _

__"Please, just for a minute!" Toni practically implored while the dark-haired girl remained unaltered, arms crossed over her chest, staring annoyed into nothingness, occasionally letting out a disgusted sigh._ _

__"Are you done yet? I told you Toni. It's over I have nothing to say or hear from you. Get a life already, you're starting to border on extremely pathetic." She spat out turning on her heels to leave while everyone in the hall eyed the public humiliation of the girl. But Toni didn't care. She needed to talk to her, make her see some kind of sense into this ridiculous situation. Toni grabbed Regan’s arm._ _

__"Please, Regan..." Toni begged once again._ _

__"Let go of me!" Regan bellowed freeing her arm from her grip._ _

__"I-" Toni, struggled. Confused at how repulsed Regan seemed to be from her touch._ _

__"There you are! I've been looking all over for you."_ _

__The entire hall froze in place, watching as Shelby came up and snaked her arms around Toni's waist and gave her a light peck on her defined cheek._ _

__Turning to Regan with a wide grin on her face Shelby greeted politely, "Hey, Regan!"_ _

__The dark haired girl's response was a deep frown, while Toni simply gawked at the girl that now held hands with her, cheek still burning from Shelby’s lips._ _

__"Well, we better go." Shelby said, practically dragging a dumbstruck Toni by her hand as she made her way down the hall. "Bye, Regan."_ _

__She waved lightly at Dot as she passed her by. "Bye, Dot. I'll call you later."_ _

__Dot was left behind, gawking at the odd couple, her jaw glued to the floor along with everyone else's._ _

__~+~_ _

__Shelby’s arms snapped away from Toni’s the moment her feet touched the concrete on the other side of the street across from the front of the school and away from prying eyes. She felt herself flush a bit under Toni’s incredulous scrutiny._ _

__Unable to take Toni’s unnerving silence, she finally broke._ _

__"What?" Shelby asked trying to sound as annoyed as she could, but the dominant emotion in her was definitely unease._ _

__Toni cocked her hear slightly and her lips curled to one side for a light smile. Giving Shelby a delicate look, she responded._ _

__"Um, thank you."_ _

__Shelby was a bit thrown by Toni’s reaction, it actually bordered on sincere. That was...new. She shook her head nervously as if trying to push down the strange feeling that crept up her spine._ _

__"You're welcome, but don't expect me to do that for you again anytime soon. I can feel a strange allergic reaction coming just from touching you." She tried to sound convincingly disgusted but failed miserably and she could tell Toni wasn't buying it as her trademark smirk crept over her lips._ _

__She shoved her hands into hers pockets and started to walk alongside her. "Whatever you say, blondie."_ _

__"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!" Shelby snapped at her as a deep frown settled over her eyebrows in a frustrated attempt to emphasize her discontent._ _

__"Sorry, _Shelby_." Toni emphasized. _ _

__There it was again! On Toni's face! That stupid, obnoxious, cocky grin that was making her... nervous? What?! No! Stupid, obnoxious, cocky grin was supposed to make her angry, disgusted not... nervous. Never nervous._ _

__Shelby kicked herself mentally as she realized too much time had passed since Toni’s last reply for her to come up with a successful comeback._ _

__"Stupid distracting grin!" Shelby thought to herself as she kicked a pebbled that laid in her path._ _

__Once again, they walked in a nerve-racking silence, making Shelby fidget with the straps of her backpack._ _

__Suddenly, she whipped her head around to face the other girl._ _

__"Why are you here?" Shelby asked out of nowhere._ _

__"Because my parents decided to fuck seventeen years ago?" Toni offered with a smirk._ _

__"God! Stupid, distracting... Concentrate!" Shelby scolded herself mentally._ _

__"That’s not what I meant smartass!" She replied sarcastically._ _

__Toni smiled at her and eventually answered her question, matter-of-factly:_ _

__"I'm walking my girlfriend home."_ _

__Somehow, that simple phrase made it impossible for her to control her breathing and swallowing at the same time and suddenly Shelby was practically coughing her lungs out as she choked._ _

__"Um, Are you ok?" Toni asked a bit concerned as she watched the blonde bend over, trying hard to breathe._ _

__At Toni’s question, Shelby looked up at her flushed face, shooting daggers at her._ _

__"I’m…fine…you…jerk.."_ _

__She wasn't able to finish her sentence as another onslaught of coughs took over her._ _

__"Here. Drink some of this." Toni handed her a Hydroflask she pulled from the side pocket of her backpack and without thinking the petite blonde tilted into her mouth, spilling its contents down her throat._ _

__It took a few seconds for her brain to register the strong burning sensation that seemed to make its way down her entire esophagus. Instantly, she dropped the bottle and restarted another coughing fit._ _

__Toni watched in panic as the Shelby’s face changed from red, to purple, to blue and finally back to infuriated scarlet as she began to scream at her:_ _

__"ARE YOU INSANE? WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THAT THING?"_ _

__"Jesus it’s just a little vodka, I-"_ _

__"VODKA!? Why the hell do you have that in your water bottle? What kind of athlete are you!?"_ _

__"Fuck, I was just trying to help-"_ _

__"Well stop okay! Do you want to kill me? Is that it? I know we hate each other but..." The anger built so far up that Shelby wasn't even able to construct coherent, logical sentences anymore, so she simply started to march though the school parking lot towards her car, a panicked Toni trailing behind her._ _


	3. Chapter 3

At the trunk of Shelby’s car, Toni watched with a frown as Shelby continuously took swigs from the water bottle she had grabbed out of her gym bag, spitting out mouthfuls onto the concrete every few seconds. 

After one particular large mouthful, she turned to face Toni with a disgusted look plastered all over her face. Toni didn’t get what Shelby’s problem was. 

“Jeeze, you act like you’ve never had alcohol before.”

"You know when someone hands you a water bottle, you _expect_ that there’s going to be freakin’ _water_ in the bottle." 

“Look I said I was sorry, okay? Sometimes, me and some of my teammates like to get buzzed after practice. It’s not a big deal.” Toni shrugged. 

Shelby just fixed her with a murderous glance. 

"I hate you." Shelby grumbled, taking another sip from her water bottle. 

"Same here, blondie. "Toni answered, crossing her arms over her chest. 

She didn’t know why she bothered. Shelby was always going to have a stick permanently gorilla glued in her ass. She really needed to lighten the hell up. 

Shelby wanted to yell at Toni for once again refusing to use her name, but ultimately gave up. She was exhausted.  
She tossed her water bottle back into her gym bag and closed the trunk. Walking over to the driver side door, she got into her car and slammed the door.  
Her hands came up to clench the steering wheel and she took a calming breath, saying a short prayer to center herself. 

She really needed to stop letting Toni get her so worked up all the time. She didn’t know what it was about the girl that got under her skin, but every time without fail she would rise to Toni’s bait. She didn’t feel like herself anymore, ever since the Andrew situation exploded, Shelby had felt something shift in her, something she didn’t quite know how to claw back in. 

She glanced in her rearview to see Toni still standing awkwardly by the trunk of her car, scrolling on her phone. She sighed, rolled down the window, and craned her head out to address the girl. 

“Well, you comin’?”

“Um, what?” 

“Get in. I’ll give you a ride home.” 

“Oh, um. Cool, thanks.” Toni hoisted her backpack a little further up on her one shoulder and moved to get in the car. 

Shelby handed Toni her phone. 

“Just type your address in.”

Toni did so and handed Shelby her phone back. The two sat in awkward silence and Shelby made her way to Toni’s house.  
The pair drove in relative silence, with Shelby quietly singing along to some Taylor Swift song that made Toni roll her eyes at the basic white girl-ness of it all. It took about five minutes for the silence to start to get to her. 

Toni reached up and flicked at the crucifix the blonde had hanging from her rear view mirror which earned her a smack on the hand from Shelby. 

“Don’t touch that.”

“You know for a self-proclaimed woman of god, you sure love resorting to violence.” Toni mocked her. 

“Only when driven to it.” Shelby replied, snidely.  
“  
So, you’re saying you feel out of control around me. I mean, it’s understandable.”

“God, could you _be_ more full of yourself? And please, the only thing I feel around you is complete and utter repulsion.” Shelby said with a smug grin. 

Toni put her hand up against her open mouth in faux shock, as if Shelby actually hurt her. Their bickering aside, they actually had things they should be discussing. 

“We should probably talk about phase two. You know, whatever the game plan is for next week.”

Shelby groaned. “God will you give it a rest already? Did we not experience the same events these past few days? This week was a disaster. The plan is O-V-E-R, over!”

“If you really feel that way, then why bother helping me today?” 

“I only helped you because watching that scene play out was so agonizing and pathetic it just wasn’t even fun watching you suffer. 

Once again, Toni was right back to being pissed off. The last thing she could stand was people feeling sorry for her. 

“So that’s all it was? Pity? Toni sneered. 

“What else would it be?”

“You know, you can take your little white savior complex and shove it up your ass. I don’t need you and I sure as shit don’t need your pity.”

“Fine.” Shelby said, now regretting every helping her out at all. 

“Fine.”

“FINE.” Shelby said firmly, needing the last word. 

Perhaps not taking was for the best. The other night must have just been an anomaly because they clearly were not capable of having a civil conversation. There was something about the situation that was bugging Shelby though, so she couldn’t help herself to ask, 

“Are you a masochist or something?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Toni asked, offended. 

“I just for the life of me can’t understand why you would put yourself through that? The embarrassment, the humiliation…” Shelby’s voice trails off, as if maybe she’s not just speaking about Toni, but shakes the thought off after a second. “I mean, what do you even see in that nasty skan-“

“Watch what the fuck you say about her.” Toni growled between clenched teeth, leaning over the center divider.

Shelby felt herself flinch and a tendril of fear curled down her spine at the dangerous look in Toni’s eyes. 

Toni relaxed a bit upon seeing Shelby’s expression, realizing her intensity may have been a bit much. She deflated back in her seat. 

“Look, I’m sorry okay. Just don’t talk about Regan that way. You don’t know her like I do.”

“I guess I don’t.” Shelby agreed, leaving it be. 

A minute passes before Toni speaks again, her voice quiet this time. 

“It came out of nowhere you know.” Toni said softly. 

Shelby turned her head from the road to briefly look at her. 

“One day she’s telling me how much she loves me and the next she’s telling me it’s over and hanging all over the walking poster child for date rape.”

“Hey!” 

“Fine, _Andrew_. Toni spat. “I just don’t get it. I don’t get what I did wrong. There has to be a reason…”  
Toni didn’t want to accept any alternative. She had already lost so much in her young life that potentially facing that someone had chosen to abandon her once again was just too painful. She wanted to be hopeful. 

The desperation in Toni’s voice made Shelby bite back any mean response she had ready on the tip of her tongue. Some wounds just weren’t meant to be poked at. 

“You really care about her a lot, don’t you?” 

Toni simply nodded. Not wanted to let any more vulnerability slip than she already had. 

“Then I guess we have our work cut out for us.” 

Toni brightened a little at that. “Really? So, you’re still down? For the plan, I mean.” 

“Yes. It is the Christian thing to be charitable after all." 

The look in Shelby’s eyes let Toni know she was teasing so Toni just rolled her eyes at the blonde. 

“We should probably like, elevate our game. That kiss on the cheek really threw Regan. So um, more PDA would probably really make them flip. Maybe we should make out in the hallway or something..” Toni offered, hoping she was coming off as casual as possible. On the inside however, the mere suggestion of kissing Shelby caused an awkward and nervous fluttering in her stomach. 

Toni didn’t have too much time to dwell on that though, as a cautious sideways glance at Shelby saw the girl turning so red, Toni thought she would either crash the car or have to administer CPR any second. 

“MAKE….m-make o-out? I am NOT making out with you!” Toni swore she saw Shelby visibly shudder when she spoke. After giving Shelby the benefit of the doubt for so long, that action was the proverbial last straw. Only this time, she felt more hurt than angry for once. 

“So you’re that disgusted by me, is that it? Good to know the apple doesn’t fall far from the fucking tree with you people.” Toni replied, crossing her arms defensively. 

“You people? That’s not true – I” 

“I just saw your face Shelby. You fucking shuddered the second I mentioned something that was a little too gay for you. I’m sorry, but that’s hate.” 

“Look that is NOT it, alright?” Shelby pleaded with her. “I swear. It’s just a little too fast is all. Can we just start a little slower, please?” Shelby finished, nervously. 

Toni felt herself deflate a little at that. She was in no way trying to pressure Shelby into doing anything she wasn’t comfortable with. Maybe she was reading into Shelby’s body language too much. “So, then what do you suggest?” 

The GPS on her phone alerts Shelby to make a right-hand turn. Shelby exits the freeway and pulls onto reservation land. 

“Maybe we can start by holding hands or something.” 

“Holding hands?” Toni scoffs. “What is this the Disney Channel? I hold hands with fucking Marty all the time, who is going to buy that?” 

Shelby pulls her car up to the front of Toni’s house, a slightly rundown one-story ranch. 

“Take it or leave it, Shalifoe.” Shelby replied. “You want my help, then we play by my rules.” 

“Fine.” Toni agreed. Like it or not, she needed Shelby for this plan to work despite how unbelievably lame Shelby’s suggestions were. “We’ll hold hands.” 

Shelby just smirks, content with winning yet another small battle with Toni. The two are back to sitting in awkward silence. Shelby idly taps her thumbs along the top of her steering wheel. 

Toni cleared her throat and reached down to grab her backpack from the floor between her legs. “So um, thanks. For the ride.” 

Shelby, not expecting a thank you at all, just nods a bit surprised. 

“See you Monday.” Toni exits the car and makes her way inside the house. 

~*~ 

Marty was laying down in bed reading when Toni barges through the door of her bedroom and tosses her a casual greeting as she throws her backpack down by Marty’s dresser. 

“Yo Marty!” 

Toni’s pitbull, Tala, jumps down of the bed from where she was resting besides Marty to enthusiastically greet Toni. 

“Hey girl!” Toni coos, kneeling down to greet her and scratching the dog behind her ears. 

“Where we you?” Marty asks, placing her book down on her nightstand. “I waited for you by the buses.” 

“Oh, um. I got a ride.” Toni said, nonchalantly. 

“You could have texted me.” 

“My bad.” Toni said, guiltily. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

Marty just nods accepting her apology, not even that mad at Toni to begin with. 

“Who gave you a ride?” 

“Shelby…” Toni mumbled, not wanting to lie to Marty but also not happy to tell her the truth about who she was spending her time with either. 

“Shelby.” Martha echoed, still beyond surprised the two were willing spending time with the other. “Are you ever going to tell me why you guys are suddenly friends now?” 

“We’re just hanging out Marty.” Toni shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. 

“If you say so.” Marty replies, not completely believing her. Toni clearly wanted to drop the conversation, so Marty didn’t push her any further. Toni would tell her more when she was ready to, as she always did. Toni looks up at her from where she’s cuddling Tala on the floor. 

“I’m gunna take Tala for a walk to the lake. Want to come?” Toni asked. 

“Sure.” Marty nods and gets off the bed. The two make their way out of Marty’s bedroom, Tala following behind them, tail wagging excitedly. 

~*~ 

"What do you mean Shelby walked away with her?" Fatin asked incredulous, staring wide eyed at Dot who walked alongside her. 

"I mean she just slid her arm around Toni’s waist and dragged her out of school." Dot explained for the 100th time. 

"And you haven't spoken to her the whole weekend?" 

"Nope. Tried to call her but no one answered." 

"But-" Fatin trailed off as the subject of their discussion came up from behind the duo. "Hey, ya’ll." Shelby greeted them with enthusiasm, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. 

"There you are! Where were all weekend?" Dot questioned as they continued to walk down the hall. 

"Oh, you know the usual. Non-stop pageant prep bootcamp. I can’t even tell you how many freaking dresses I had to try on. My jaw feels bruised from the amount of time I had to practice smiling in the dang mirror." 

"God, you're like a fucking Sim’s sometimes, Goodkind.” Fatin teases her. Shelby playfully gives her the finger. It takes Shelby about a minute to realize that almost every pair of eyes in the hallway is on her. 

"Um Ya’ll? Why is everyone starting at me?" Shelby asked in a panic. “Did something happen again?” Shelby felt dread fill her once again at the prospect of being publicly humiliated once more. 

"I think people are probably starting because you were macking all over Toni on Friday afternoon?" Fatin offered with a hint of sarcasm. 

"Mackin’!? There was absolutely no mackin’.” Now feeling terrified that the high school gossip mill had taken something that was friendly and innocent in Shelby’s option and turned it into something salacious and wrong. 

"Sure you weren’t. Besides what was that shit at lunch the other day. Is Shalifoe like your savior now?” Fatin asks. Fatin seemed to be more bothered by being out of loop than the concept of Shelby actually being with Toni. Something that Shelby may have caught onto if she weren’t currently having an internalized anxiety spiral. 

“It’s not what you-“ 

Shelby isn’t able to finish her sentence as two strong, tanned arms wormed their way from behind her to settle over her waist and gently pulled her back to rest against the owner’s chest.  
Before her brain had time to question who it belonged to, a low, raspy voice in her ears gave her the answer. 

"Morning, babe." 

Shelby could not help the involuntary shiver her body let out from the proximity of Toni’s lips to her ear. Her heart seemed to leap up to her throat, while Dot and Fatin’s eyes were just about to pop out of their sockets. _”Babe?"_ , Fatin mouthed to herself, more confused than ever. 

It took Shelby just a moment to compartmentalize and regain her composure to save face in front of her friends. This was pretend. It was all just _pretend_. She could do this. 

"Hey..." she greeted back with much less enthusiasm. 

She could feel herself blushing, her skin heating up. This was decidedly NOT holding hands! A fact that she was planning on berating Toni for the second the two were alone again. Against all odds, she found herself relaxing slightly in the brunette’s arms. 

"How are you?" Shelby asked as she turned her head to face her, Toni’s arms still wrapped around her, her back still glued to the brunette’s front. 

"I'm chill." Toni answered, aloof. 

Shelby was surprised to find a perfectly calm and collected Toni smiling back at her. She found herself a bit dazed, not being able to recall a time she had ever seen the other girl smile before. Now here it was, directed at her, in all its disarming glory. It was so distracting that Shelby didn’t even realize Toni had asked her a question, only catching the tail end of it. 

"...do you have now?" 

"Huh...? What?" Shelby asked, shaking her head as she realized she was still staring up at Toni who was now idly playing with the edge of her shirt. It made Shelby swallow thickly. 

"What class do you have now?" 

"Um..." Shelby felt like it was impossible form a coherent thought. Between Toni’s proximity and the slightly calloused thumb that was currently grazing her right hipbone, Shelby’s brain had completely short circuited. 

Thankfully, Dot was there to intervene. 

"We've got History." 

"Yes! History!" Shelby repeated as the bell rang, snapping out of whatever weird spell she was under. Class. Class was good. Learning was important. 

"Well, see you in third period. We've got English together, right?" Toni enquired as her arms slid away from her. She gently grabbed one of Shelby's hands, running her thumb along the back of it. 

"Um..." ‘Think! Think!' Shelby ordered her brain. "Yes, I-I think we do." 

"Cool see you then." Toni gave her hand a light squeeze before letting it go and gave her a small smile. Then, she turned and made her way down the hall, leaving three dumbstruck girls behind her. 

"Okay, what the fuck just happened?” Fatin tried to ask as calmly as she could manage  
.  
"Uh... It's... um..." Shelby struggled. She decided intense deflection was definitely a better idea. 

"We better get going, don't want Mrs. Wallace on our butts. See ya later, Fatin!” She shouted as she quickly made her way to her next class, a confused Dot trailing behind her. 

"But-" Fatin was left standing in the middle of an empty hall as the two girls snuck into their class room. “This is bullshit! I’m never the last to know things!” Fatin yelled out, her voice echoing in the empty hallway. 

~+~ 

Shelby stared at the small, crunched up piece of paper lying on her desk. Written in small black letters, she read: "What was that all about?" 

She looked up and to her right to find a wide eyed Dot staring back at her as if to say, “Well?” 

"Later." Shelby mouthed. 

"Miss Goodkind!" Mrs. Wallace’s voice hovered over the class and everyone turned to stare at Shelby. “Care to share with the class?” 

"No.” Shelby responded, embarrassed. “Sorry, Mrs. Wallace." 

The older woman nodded slightly and returned to her dull rambling. 

Making sure she was off the hook, Shelby turned to Dot to whisper: 

"I'll tell you later, I promise." 

~+~ 

The bell rang and, in a flash, Dot was standing next to Shelby, books pressed against her chest, anxiously waiting for an explanation. 

"What's happening, Shelby?" Dot asked as her patience ran out. 

Shelby paused for a moment when she finished packing her books and looked up at her best friend. Here it was, the moment of truth. Or was it untruth? Shelby tried to rationalize with herself. If none of this was real and it was all pretend then it didn’t really matter. If Dot reacted badly, she could recover, walk herself back from it. Save herself. She took a steadying breath, and decided she would take a page out of Toni’s book and be bold, even though she was technically about to lie to her best friend. 

"Toniismygrifriend.” Shelby blurted out, completely ineloquently. 

She quickly made her way to the door. 

"What?!" A stunned Dot shouted after her. 

Shelby never had a chance to answer, thankfully saved from confrontation and judgement. As she entered the hall she bumped into someone, her books tumbling to the floor. 

"I'm so sor-" She stopped in mid-sentence as she finished gathering her books and looked up to find Regan, arrogantly staring down at her. 

"Watch where you're going!" She snapped. 

"I said I was sorry." Shelby apologized as she stood up straight. 

Her apology went unacknowledged as Regan just scoffed and walked away. Dot unfortunately caught up to her at that point. 

"Explain." Dot said simply. Looks like Shelby would be having that confrontation after all. 

"Toni and I are going out." Shelby forced herself to say. She steeled herself for the inevitable judgement. She couldn’t bear to see the repulsion all over Dot’s face. 

"You and Toni…” Dot repeats, rolling the words in her mouth as if repeating them would make more sense. “And you’re…” Dot starts to ask carefully. 

“I’m what?” Shelby asks, slightly terrified about what Dot will ask next. 

“Into women?” Dot asks the question softly, without hint of malice or disgust in her voice. Despite the whole situation being a giant lie, Shelby couldn’t help but feel terrified at the thought of being judged, especially by her best friend. From the look in Dot’s eyes though, Shelby only saw acceptance no matter what answer she was about to give. That look made it easier for Shelby to make eye contact with Dot and nod her head in the affirmative. 

“You know I love you no matter what right?” Dot replied. 

“Really?” Shelby felt beyond relieved but wanted to chastise herself for it. On one hand she was glad that Dot isn’t judging her for anything but on the other it felt tainted because it was all based on a lie. 

“Of course, Shelby.” Dot nodded. “It’s just that you and Toni. I mean, I would have not seen that coming in a million years.” 

Shelby let a light chuckle at that. Dot wasn’t wrong. “Yeah well, it just kind of happened.” 

“When?” 

“Two weeks ago?” 

"How?" 

"I guess we just found out we had more in common than we first thought.” 

"Like what, an intensely reciprocated loathing for one another?" Dot teased her as the two made their way down the hallway towards Shelby’s locker. 

Shelby shook her head as she opened her locker. 

"It’s a long story but we're together now. Things changed." Shelby shrugged, hoping Dot wouldn’t push the issue and force her to lie any more than she already had. 

Dot opened her mouth to say something, but Shelby cut her off. "Just trust me, Dot. I know what I'm doing." 

“Okay Shelby. If you say so.” 

~+~ 

English class turned out to be practically torturous. Shelby nervously tapped her pencil on her desk as she heard the teacher read the same poem for the second time.  
Every once in a while, she dared to throw a glance towards the back of the classroom where Toni sat scribbling away in her notebook. 

Lord knows what she even wrote in there.  
Every Monday morning was the same thing. Toni would come to class, sit in her usual seat in the back and spend the entire period with her head buried in her notebook. 

Could Toni actually be taking notes? In English class? Shelby shook her head as the ringing of the bell snapped her out of her thoughts. She was putting her books into her backpack when she saw someone approaching her from the corner of her eyes. 

"Ready to work on your acting skills? Cause you sure as hell are long way from an award-winning performance. What was all that staring about back in the halls, by the way?" Toni asked. 

"What staring? I don't stare." Shelby said simply as she continued to stuff her things into the bag, before turning to leave the classroom. 

"Whatever." Toni sighed as she snaked her arm around Shelby’s waist. 

"Hey!" Shelby instinctively slapped Toni’s hand away from her. 

"You know our overnight passion won't look very believable if you keep jumping up every time I come near you. I’m not contagious.” 

“That has yet to be proven.” Shelby said, but begrudgingly took Toni’s hand in hers anyway as she dragged the brunette out of the classroom doorway and into the hallway where once again everyone had turned to look at them. 

"The staring." Shelby groaned. “I can’t stand it.” 

“It’s not a big deal. People have nothing else to do but be nosy. Just try to relax. The plan is working” 

Shelby guessed that was true. Despite how obnoxious the constant looks and whispering from the other students was, people did seem to be buying the fact that they were together. 

Shelby was so lost in her thoughts she wasn’t even aware that she was lightly swinging the pairs clasped hands between them as they made their way down the hallway. Toni didn’t mention it or attempt to tease, instead acting like it was the most natural thing in the world for them to do. Eventually, she turned to the blonde. 

“Lunch?” 

Shelby nodded and the two made their way past more shocked stares, towards the cafeteria. 

~+~ 

They sat in silence; the entire cafeteria stared at their table. 

"So..." Leah was the one to break the stillness. She had been waiting the entire day to ask a question, ever since Fatin had told her the news it had become an itch she was just dying to scratch. “When did you guys start boning?” 

Fatin nearly spit her La Croix all over the table at Leah’s blunt questioning. I mean sure it was the question they’ve all been dying to ask, but Fatin thought she would be the one to actually say it first. 

Toni was completely unaffected by Leah’s question but couldn’t help but notice the blonde next to her had gone completely shellshocked. She decided to smooth things over. 

“Not that it’s any of your business.” Toni began, “but you know how it is. A little heroism never fails to make the ladies swoon.” 

“You mean, the mugging thing.” Leah clarifies. 

“Yeah. She just couldn’t resist me after that, what can I say?” Toni smirks. "I'm fucking hot." 

That promptly made Shelby snap out of her catatonic state. Toni’s penchant for dramatics along with her unbearable ego drove Shelby to lightly smack her in the back of the head. 

“Ow!” 

“She’s pulling your chains, ya’ll.” 

Shelby didn’t get to explain herself much further as the cafeteria’s attention was brought to the main entrance and Andrew and Regan entered the room. The two couples made eye contact and everyone watched as Andrew and Regan made their way over to the table, awaiting whatever confrontation was about to occur. 

"Shelby." Andrew greeted dryly. Turning to look at Toni next to her, he practically spat, “Toni.” 

"Andrew, Regan.” Toni greeted back, a plastic smile in place as she slid arm around Shelby’s waist it bring the blonde closer. 

Silence. Everyone waited and watched. 

"Shelby, I have some of your things back home." Andrew started. "When do you want them back?" 

"Keep them." Shelby answered dryly as she felt her stomach turn at the sight of Regan pressing herself against his chest.  
Her hands traced suggestive patterns on his stomach as she shot Shelby a dirty look.  
"I don't need them." 

Andrew was taken by surprise by her cold and distant tone, but soon recovered. He stood up straight and mumbled: 

"Fine. Suit yourself." 

And with that he turned on his heels and left, dragging Regan with him. 

ƒ


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as the spectacle in the cafeteria was over, Shelby politely excused herself from the table and ran as fast as she could to the nearest bathrooms, locking herself in the stall furthest from the door. She braced herself between the stall walls and took deep calming breaths. 

Between the bombardment of questions from her friends and the run in with Andrew and Regan, Shelby felt like she was at her breaking point. If everything was working according to plan, then why did it feel like things were actually unraveling?

The confrontation in the cafeteria had been too much, but she had to admit she was pretty proud of herself for keeping her composure. Her mind flashed back to the dark look Regan gave her as she draped herself all over Andrew as if to say “I won bitch!”

"Arrogant little..." Shelby began between clenched teeth when she heard a light knock on the door.

Frowning, Shelby turned around and bent down to under the door to find to a black Nike high top tapping the tiled floor impatiently. In a flash, she opened the door.

"What the hell are you-"

“Are you okay?” Toni interrupted her before they could launch into another one of their bickering matches. 

Shelby was thrown by the question. Had Toni really followed her to check up on her? The concerned look Toni was giving her was almost…sweet? No that couldn't be right. Toni and sweet were at two opposite sides of the spectrum. But then there was Regan, and how Toni doted on her much to Shelby's disgust. Shelby shook the thoughts from her head as quickly as they came. More thoughts like those and she was going to have to bring herself in for a CAT scan. 

“I’m fine.” Shelby assured her. “Just got a little overwhelmed is all.”

“Cool, uh. Just wanted to make sure.” Toni awkwardly shuffled in front of her until the blonde cleared her throat. 

“Can I?” She gestured around Toni. 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Toni moved out of the way to let the blonde past and moved to lean up against the sink next to her while Shelby washed her hands. Shelby was wondering why Toni was still there until the brunette finally started speaking, a small victorious smirk on her face. 

“Did you see Regan’s face? And that dickheads? Fuck, I thought they would burst a blood vessel! It was hilarious.”

Shelby just watched as Toni went on and on about how fast everything was moving and how perfectly everything was working out. 

"Soon Regan is going to be so jealous she’s going to cave and be begging to come back to me. Fuck! I miss her so much!"

Something about the way Toni said it, the sincerity and the wistfulness in her tone maybe, made Shelby’s stomach twist so violently that she had to refrain from kicking her. So, she lashed out with her words instead. 

"Did you follow me into the bathroom so I could be forced to listen to your pathetic obsessive ramblin’s?’ Shelby crossed her arms over her chest. 

"Like I’m the one that’s pathetic, you-." Toni actually stopped herself for once before she could get into it again with Shelby, deciding instead to take a breath to calm herself. “You know what? No matter what you say or how shitty you act, I am so not letting you ruin my good mood.” Toni said with a smile. “I saw the way Regan looked back there. I know she still loves me!” 

“Are you delusional? She was practically dry humping Andrew in the middle of the cafeteria!”

“Because she was jealous!” 

“Wow, you must really love lying to yourself.” 

“Regan loves me.” Toni assured her. 

“Regan doesn’t give a crap about you Toni! When are you going to get that though your thick head!”

"I know Regan."

"Right. That's why you knew she was screwing my boyfriend these last few months. She used you and discarded you when she found something better.” Shelby spat with venom. 

At that, the smile on Toni’s face crumbled, quickly being replaced by a strange empty look in her eyes. Shelby watched as Toni swallowed hard and without a word she turned to leave. Feeling an awful wave of guilt crash over her, Shelby reached out to stop Toni from leaving. 

"Crap! Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Before she could finish, Toni was in her face, raw anger flashing in her eyes.

"You are the most self-centered, heartless, stubborn little bitch I've ever met in my entire life." And without another word she stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Shelby stunned and stewing in her own guilt. 

~+~

Shelby was sitting in the quad during her free period, idly playing with her hair and completely lost in thought. The hollow look in Toni’s eyes from earlier in the bathroom was playing in her head on a loop. She was so distracted in her thoughts she didn’t even notice Dot sit down on the bench next to her. 

“Um hello, earth to Shelby!” Dot called out, waving a hand in front of the blonde’s face. 

"Crap Dot!" She gasped. “You scared me.”

“I’ve been calling your name for the last minute. Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Shelby assured her. “I was just lost in thought is all.”

“So about lunch-“ Dot began, but was quickly interrupted by Shelby. 

"Dottie, do you think I’m self-centered?” 

Dot looks a bit confused about the question, but quickly moved to reassure her. 

"Of course not. Why would you think that?” Dot asks. 

"No reason." Shelby says quickly, her eyes staring off into the distance. 

“Did something happen Shelby?”

Shelby continued to avoid eye contact with Dot. "What about heartless and stubborn?"

"Shelby, where the hell is this coming from?” 

Shelby finally turned to look at Dot, pleadingly. 

“Please Dot. Just be honest with me.” Dot lets out a breath of air. 

“Okay…” She begins tentatively. “The truth?”

Shelby just nods, bracing herself for whatever Dot is about to say. 

"You can be a bit... harsh sometimes. Especially if you've been hurt." Dot lightly shrugs, looking apologetic. 

Shelby closed her eyes for a few moments, letting what Dot had said sink in and then stood up. "I gotta go. See you in Spanish, Dot"  
~+~

Shelby felt like she had scoured the entire school in search of Toni but ultimately realized how foolish she was. The last place she ended up looking was of course the one place the other girl was bound to be in. 

She entered the gymnasium to find Toni, all by herself, lightly dribbling a ball in concentration. She took the ball back in her hands, squared up at the free throw line and took her shot. Shelby watched as the ball sank into the net with ease. Toni lightly jogged to get the ball back as Shelby quietly approached her from behind. She cleared her throat to get Toni’s attention. 

"Hey." She said, shyly. 

Toni turned around a little out of breath and sweaty, she surprised by the interruption but upon seeing Shelby a scowl immediately formed on her face. 

"What do you want?" Toni grumbled. 

Shelby moved to step closer to her, but Toni was quick to put distance between them making the blonde flinch. 

"Ok, I guess I deserved that." She grumbled apologetically, but Toni wasn’t listening already over the conversation and making an exit. She cradled the ball under her arms and went to grab her bag from where she had left it on the bleacher. 

"Toni!" Shelby jogged after her. “Will you just wait a minute!” 

Toni threw her bag over her shoulder and completely ignored her, making her way towards the gym exit. 

Shelby chased after her and finally caught up, moving in front of her to block Toni’s path. 

“Move.” Toni asked, practically looking straight through her. 

“Can you please just talk to me.” Shelby pleaded. 

Finally, Toni made eye contact with her, but the hollow look in her eyes just made Shelby feel strangely upset. 

“I have nothing to say to you.” Toni spoke coldly. 

Shelby didn’t know how to respond to Toni like this. She had never seen this side to her before. Cold and distant and really not even trying to argue or yell at her? Had she really upset Toni that much?

“I’m sorry.” Shelby managed to choke out after seconds. The words felt strange being directed to Toni of all people, but Shelby found she actually meant them. 

“I know that I can be…difficult sometimes.” Shelby started. 

“Just sometimes?” Toni asked, sarcastically. Shelby finally saw a tiny bit of the spark in Toni’s eyes that was missing before. The relief she felt seeing that, made her press on. 

“I didn’t mean what I said earlier, and I just wanted you to know that. I’m really sorry for what I said.”

Shelby waited for Toni to reply, but the brunette just stared at her. Looking away from Toni’s impassive stare, Shelby’s eyes drift down to watch a bead of sweat roll down Toni’s neck and into the collar of her tank top. Shelby felt her mouth go dry. 

Her eyes snapped up in a hurry. Thankfully Toni didn’t seem to notice her staring at all and the other girl eventually just let out a sigh. The lack of words coming from Toni was just unnerving. 

“So, are we good?” Shelby hesitantly asked.

Toni just shrugged. “I guess.”

“Okay, well…great.” Shelby replied, mustering a smile. 

“I gotta get to class.”

“Right. Um, Me too.” 

Shelby rocked back on her heels and waited for Toni to start walking, eventually falling into step next to her. Toni continued to be silent as they made their way out of the gym and into the hallway, cautiously glancing in Shelby’s way every few seconds. 

“Are you doing like, a whole silent treatment thing? Because I gotta say it’s really weirding me out.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” Toni asked.

“Hey!” Shelby’s mouth opened in indignation. Toni just rolled her eyes and kept walking. The pair were about to round the corner into the next hallway when they heard a pair of whispering voices, distinctly talking about them. 

"What do you mean you don't believe it? Of course, they're together."

“So, what little Miss Christian Teen Texas is suddenly lezzing out all of a sudden?”

Shelby felt her body freeze at the comment but quickly grabbed Toni’s arm to stop her from rounding the corner. She put her hand to her mouth to tell Toni to be quiet and pointed around the corner to where the conversation was taking place. 

“It’s Rachel and Nora.” Shelby whispered. 

Toni raised her eyebrows at the mention of her teammate and her sister but moved closer to the wall of lockers and started to listen in. 

“I don’t know Rachel. I mean sexuality is like a spectrum. Maybe Shelby figured out that she’s not a zero on the Kinsey scale after all.”

Toni quietly snickered at that but stopped after seeing Shelby’s icy glare. 

"I’m sorry there’s just no fucking way. I mean they HATE each other. I’ve heard it so many times from Toni firsthand. Now, what? They're walking down the hallway holding hands and hugging and shit? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, they do say there’s a thin line between love and hate. Look at Pride and Prejudice.” 

“Nora, you know I don’t fucking read.”

“They made like five movie adaptations…whatever, all I’m saying is that all that anger and banter was maybe just actually hiding the fact that they are both really hot for each other. They’re probably screwing all the time.”

Rachel scoffs. “I don’t know about all that. All I’ve seen is some PG shit. Skipping around the hallway holding hands does not mean that they’re fucking.”

Toni gave Shelby a pointed look at that and mouthed “I told you so.” 

“Sorry Nora it's just not believable. Shelby is probably pulling some scam to try to get some street cred and shit to look less vanilla so she can get Andrew back.” 

Rachel continues her rant and it’s becoming clearer to Shelby that Rachel and Nora’s voices were getting closer to them.  
Just as the two sisters rounded the corner, on pure panicked instinct, Shelby grabbed Toni by the back of her neck and crushed her mouth to hers. 

At first, Toni was completely frozen as Shelby kissed her, at a complete loss at what was happening. 

It wasn't until Shelby’s nails gently grazed the back of Toni’s neck as small moans escaped her lips that Toni snapped into action, pulling the blonde closer and fully leaning into her ministrations. Toni’s hands gripped the blonde’s lower back and she opened her mouth to gently bite at Shelby’s lower lip which earned her a gasp in response. Toni claims her mouth once more, running a soothing tongue over her bite and Shelby feels nearly lightheaded at the intensity of it all. 

“Woah, um. Our bad.” 

The voice is a shock to her system and Shelby abruptly pulls away from Toni, looking shocked at her actions. Had she really just done that? She turned away from Toni, to look at Nora and Rachel who were standing at the corner or the hallway completely dumbstruck. 

“We’re just gunna go.” Nora hiked her thumb over her shoulder in the opposite direction and grabbed Rachel’s hand to draw her away. From down the hallway Shelby could hear Nora gloating. 

“I fucking told you so!”

Shelby had never felt so tense in her life. She was petrified to turn towards Toni, unsure of what reaction she was going to receive. The way she had acted. Pulling Toni towards her, allowing the kiss to escalate the way it had? What was wrong with her?

“Shelby…”

The soft cadence of Toni’s voice is what made her turn around in the end. Toni’s eyes swam with confusion, shock, and lust. Her breath was still lightly swaying in and out from their previous kiss. It was more than Shelby could handle. So, she did what she did best. 

“I gotta go.” With that, Shelby bolted down the hall and out of sight, leaving an extremely confused Toni to compose herself. 

~*~

Shelby was counting down the minutes until dinner with her family was over so she could escape to her room and be alone with her thoughts. Her father was leaving to attend a church leadership conference for the week and Shelby honestly felt relieved. Although unlikely, Shelby was terrified that her dad would be able to see right through her and know exactly what Shelby had been hiding these past few weeks. He couldn’t leave for his flight soon enough. 

“You know Shelby, with cheer practice starting up soon you should think about joining me for Bible Spin when I get back this weekend.” Dave Goodkind said as he set a bowl of salad down in the middle of the dining room table. “Start getting that cardio in to warm up!” 

Shelby sat at the table, idly moving around pieces of grilled chicken. She didn’t want to think about cheerleading, or bible spin class with her dad, she definitely didn’t want to think about the softness of Toni’s lips pressed against hers earlier. 

“Shelby?”

Shelby was abruptly forced out of her reverie. The sound of her father’s voice a proverbial ice bucket to drown out the thoughts she absolutely should not be thinking of! She grabbed her water glass and took a large sip, before addressing him. 

“Sure Daddy! Sounds like fun!” Shelby mustered all the practice of pageantry that she could, hoping that the smile on her face appeared genuine. 

“Are you going to need me to pick you up from the airport on Friday?” Jo asks Dave. 

“That’s alright, Honey. John will give me a ride back. Speaking of John, we were discussing it yesterday and we think it would be great to have you do the keynote speech for our youth group this year Shelby.”

“What?” Shelby replied. More public speaking was the last thing that Shelby wanted to add onto her plate. 

“It’ll be great. You could really be a great role model for these kids. Show them what being a well-rounded teen who leads with Christ’s light in their life is all about. That they don’t have to fall into sin.”

On the inside, Shelby felt as if there was a black hole forming in her stomach. Certainly not feeling very much like a picture perfect Christian teen role model. But saying no to her father was something of an impossibility, so Shelby just faked a smile and replies, 

“Of course, I would be honored to.” 

“That’s my girl!” Dave replies giving her a proud smile. It just made Shelby feel ill. 

Everyone eventually finished up dinner and Jo moved to clean up as Dave got up from his seat. 

“Alright. I have to go pack. John is picking me up in an hour. You be good while I’m gone Shelby. Take care of your brother and sister, and no alone time with Andrew over here, got it?”

 _Andrew._ Shelby thought. The person that should be consuming her thoughts, who Shelby had managed to not even think about all day. Although now any alone time with Andrew would most likely result in her kicking him directly in the groin, Shelby knew her thoughts _should_ be revolving around him. Instead of Andrew, Shelby’s thoughts had been replaced with stormy brown eyes, slender hands, wavy brown hair, and a smirk that Shelby would be loath to admit, was completely growing on her. She needed to get her brain back on track before she went too far off the deep end. 

“Of course, Daddy. Have a great trip.”

~+~

Shelby found herself pacing in her bedroom unable stop her brain from replaying a highlight reel from her absolutely, definitely not real, kiss with Toni. She felt like she was going insane. 

“Stop, stop, stop.” Shelby muttered to herself. She needed a distraction. Or maybe she just needed to talk to someone to make her feel less insane. She already knew at least one person in this world wouldn’t judge her. Shelby walked over to her nightstand to grab her cell and quickly dialed. 

"Come on, pick up!" Shelby repeated over and over again into the receiver. Her calls just went straight to voicemail. "Dang it, Dot!" she cursed slamming the phone down.

Despite her need to vent, Shelby hoped that Dot was okay. It wasn’t like her not to answer the phone when Shelby called. Maybe something had happened with her Dad. The phone rang before Shelby had time to contemplate further. She answers quickly without looking at the caller ID. 

"Finally!" she breathed in relief as she picked up. "Where have you been? I have been calling you nonstop. You will not believe what happened today.” she said in one breath.

Her face turned bright red when she heard from the other side of the line:

"Nonstop, huh? That kiss in the hallway earlier must have really have you dying for more.”

The shock quickly wore off to be quickly replaced by anger, Toni’s attempt at levity making Shelby’s blood boil despite being unable to stop thinking about the girl for the latter half of the day. 

"Toni!" She hissed between clenched teeth. 

"That’s me.”

Shelby could actually hear her smirking. The nerve of this girl. 

"What do want?" She growled.

"Isn’t it you the one who wants something? Going on and on about calling me nonstop?” Toni answered cockily.

"I thought you were someone else." She answered dryly.

"Who?" The question was out of Toni’s lips before she could suppress it. 

"No one." She barked.

"Come on Shelby.” Toni began, “Don’t you know you can tell anything?”

Shelby scoffed. "Why would I?"

"Because I’m your girlfriend, and an amazing listener.” Toni answered directly. 

"You are _not_ my girlfriend, Toni!” She bit out in a panicked whisper. Her father may be gone but she didn’t want her mother to overhear her either. 

"Look, just leave me alone!" Shelby quickly hung up the phone. It takes approximately one second for her cell to ring again. 

"What!?" Shelby answered.

"Pretty shitty to hang up on your girlfriend. I thought we were getting somewhere..” She started. 

"For the last time Toni, you are _not_ my girlfriend.” This time Shelby couldn’t really mask the panic lacing her voice. Something that Toni was quick to pick up on. 

"Are you okay?” Toni’s voice shifts from cockiness to genuine concern and once again it manages to throw Shelby off. 

"I'm fine." Shelby said exasperate, just desperate to get Toni off of the phone. 

"You don't sound fine."

"Toni. Please, just leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to fight right now. You win ok?" She was almost begging her.

There was a moment of silence before Toni said:

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

"What? Toni? No!" Before she could say anything else, Toni had hung up. And from the sound of it, she was headed right to Shelby's house. "Oh, God no..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth about including Toni's POV in this chapter and ultimately decided to leave it in. Let me know if it makes sense or if you'd like to continue seeing some of her POV. Thanks for all the love and the comments so far. It's really appreciated =)

Chapter 5

Toni couldn’t remember the last time she had a practice that was that shitty. Her coach had been completely on her ass for the entire two hours. She had missed the majority of her passes, flubbed a nearly unmissable layup, and managed to get about five fouls called on her during their end of practice scrimmage. 

Rachel just about tore her own hair out screaming at Toni’s fuck ups throughout practice, which had earned her multiple middle finger responses and a few choice words in return. Toni had apologized profusely to her coach, excusing the absolute trash playing of hers to just having an off day. 

But Coach has left her with a warning, ‘Keep it up with this lack of focus Shalifoe and I’m going to have to hand your captain’s spot to Reid.’, which had pissed her off to no end, especially with the smug look Rachel had shot her after overhearing the comment. 

The only way she would be losing her captains spot was by death or dismemberment and since neither had a high likelihood of happening, Rachel could go stuff it. 

Besides, Rachel already had the captain title for the swim and dive team. The fact that it wasn’t enough for her and she was trying to grab yet another title, one that Toni had worked her ass off to get, something that was _hers_ , it grated on Toni’s nerves. 

She knew why her game had been so off today. It was all she could think about for the past few hours. 

Shelby had _kissed her_. 

Shelby had kissed her, and it had been so shocking, so intense, so unexpectedly _good_ that Toni had been unable to stop her brain from replaying the scene on a continuous loop in her brain. 

Toni could have never been predicted that Shelby would be the one who would make the first move. Hell, the number of times the blonde recoiled from just an accidental touch from her just about proved her point. But the fact that she _had_ wasn’t the only part of it that had thrown Toni off her game, it was the way Shelby had reacted to the kiss. The way she leaned in, the way she grabbed at Toni, as if she were…

“God, it wasn’t that fucking good!” Toni said aloud in frustration, firmly attempting to shut down the thoughts once and for all from permeating her brain any further. 

She would not allow someone like Shelby fucking Goodkind to derail her like this. She had a plan. A plan that was working! 

Regan was the most important thing to her. 

Those we’re the facts, and as of today everything Toni had worked so hard to put into motion had their desired effect. Shelby Goodkind was just a means to an end and that was that. 

Toni needed to shut down whatever absolutely abnormal reaction Shelby was producing in her and get back to the things that made more sense to her, like getting under Shelby’s skin by whatever means necessary and the two of them at each other’s throats at all times. 

The ancillary things Toni had to endure to play the long game of their con, well, Toni could get herself under control. It was a nice thought, as far as pipe dreams went. 

Her plan to revert back into normal dynamics has worked just fine until midway through her phone conversation with Shelby which consisted of her pestering the blonde to no end and had ended with Shelby sounding so unlike herself that Toni couldn’t even stop the words from coming out of her mouth when she expressed concern. 

Which was why now, Toni was standing on the front porch of the Goodkind residence instead of beginning her long walk home from practice as she had originally planned. 

All this was, was one enemy checking in on the other, so they could get back to the important task at hand. Getting their significant others back and restoring the natural order of things. Simple as that. 

Toni rang the doorbell of the Goodkind residence. Patiently waiting for a no doubt irate Shelby to whip open the door and give her a piece of her mind. Only instead of Shelby, the door opened, and Toni was met by the two younger Goodkinds. 

“Uh Hey. Is Shelby home?” 

“Who are you?” The second oldest, Spencer, asked. 

“Toni.” She offered them a little wave. 

“She’s upstairs.” Melody, Shelby’s younger sister answered. “You can come in and wait for her.” 

“Thanks.” 

Toni stepped through the threshold and followed Shelby’s siblings into the living room. Spencer and Melody picked up their cell phones, going right back to whatever they were doing before Toni had rang the doorbell. Spencer looked up from his phone to address Toni. 

“Do you want to play video games with us?” 

It wasn’t exactly what Toni had been expecting when she had come over, but she figured playing video games didn’t sound like the worst way to pass the time while she waited for Shelby. 

“Sure.” Toni just shrugged and sat next to Spencer on the couch and listened to him as he explained which app to download on her phone. 

~+~

Shelby prayed harder than she had in weeks. She prayed for herself. That God would forgive her for her transgressions this week. For her anger, for her lies, for the small moment of sin that Shelby swore she would not think about every again, just as long as god would find some way to deviate Toni from making her way over to her house. The last thing Shelby needed was to deal with Toni with her snarky comments and searching eyes. Shelby had enough of all that. 

Shelby prayed for control. She needed to get a handle on herself and this situation she had gotten herself into. Control was what Shelby knew, it’s what she was good at. 

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Shelby recited to herself. She was so lost in prayer, that Shelby failed to hear the doorbell ring. A few minutes later Shelby was finally interrupted by a voice, 

_“Watch out! That dude’s hiding in the bush!”_

Shelby’s eyes snapped open from hearing Toni’s voice coming from downstairs. Toni was here. In her house. 

Her prayers forgotten, Shelby pulled out Usain Bolt levels of speed as she ran down the stairs and into the living room. 

Toni and her siblings had their eyes glued to their phones and didn’t even hear Shelby come in. 

“Shoot him!” Toni yelled out. “He’s behind that house, on your right.” 

“What the heck are you doing?” Shelby interrupted, slightly out of breath from her run down the stairs. 

The three at them jumped at Shelby’s voice. Spencer was the first to answer, looking up from his phone screen. 

“We were just playing a game.” He held his cell up and waved it at her. 

“Well, you sure are being awfully loud. What game are you playing?”

“Fortnite.” Spencer replied, sheepishly. 

“You know Mama and Daddy don’t want you playing those types of games.” Shelby scolded. 

“We don’t play them when they’re here.” Melody chimed in. 

“Shouldn’t you two be getting ready for bed?” 

“C’mon Shelby! Mom isn’t going to be home from book club for another two hours.” 

“Then you can play your game up in your rooms until then.” Shelby responded, crossing her arms. 

“Whatever.” Spencer huffed, getting up off the couch. “C’mon Mel. Later Toni.” He called out behind him. The two made their way up the stairs and out of sight. 

“Probably for the best.” Toni said. “I was totally wiping the floor with those two with my kill count.”

“What are you doing here, Toni?” Shelby turned around to address her, exasperated already. 

Toni briefly scanned her eyes over Shelby, before turning away in feigned disinterest. 

“Just checking to see if you were okay.” Toni shrugged before reaching over and picking up the tv remote off of the coffee table. 

“As you can see, I’m fine. So, you should really be on your way before my Mom gets back.” Shelby replied, but Toni just ignored the comment and started flipping through the channels, turning on ESPN. 

“Or by all means, just make yourself at home!” Shelby said, voice laced with sarcasm. 

Toni just settled herself more comfortably on the couch, continuing to ignore the blonde and kept her focus on the game that was playing. 

“Is this not something you can do in your own home?” Shelby asked pointing to the TV. 

“We have basic cable.” Toni shrugged. “I usually have to look at Lynx recaps on Twitter after the fact. It’s not the same.”

“Lynx? What are you talking about?”

“The Minnesota Lynx? One of the best WNBA teams?” Toni explained, talking to Shelby as if she were a small child. 

Shelby just shrugged, not talking the bait and ignoring how condescending Toni was being. “Basketball is stupid.” 

“Stupid!?” Toni yelled offended. 

“It’s just a bunch of people running from one end of the floor to the other shooting a ball into a basket. It’s boring.” Shelby found herself plopping next to Toni without thinking, the two falling easily into their pattern of bickering without a second thought. 

“Oh, I’m sorry I keep forgetting you Texans come out of the womb pledging allegiance to football as if it’s the most amazing sport in the universe. A bunch of dudes slamming each other into the ground? Now, THAT is stupid.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Not only is football the most popular sport in Texas but also in the entire country. Sorry but your silly little game just doesn’t compare. Football is just more sophisticated.” Shelby said smugly. 

“You’re so right.” Toni replied sarcastically. “Nothing screams sophistication like a debilitating concussion. Which now that I think of it, Andrew’s personality makes a lot more sense.” 

Shelby gives her a mocking smile in return. 

“It’s okay though Shelby, I wouldn’t expect you to understand the art form of what we do on the court.” 

Shelby just scoffed. “Please! Art form? You are so full of yourself.” 

Shelby looks up at the game on the screen. “Nothing about this looks like “art” to me.” 

“Napheesa Collier literally just made a shot at half-court. How the fuck is that not impressive?” 

“Am I supposed to understand what any of that means?”

“Are you asking me to explain the game to you?” 

Shelby just shrugs and pretty soon Toni is offering her in depth explanations of the rules of the game and court dynamics of the players as the two watched the game unfold on screen. 

“Why did that referee foul her? She didn’t do anything!” Shelby shouted at the screen. 

“No, no. It was the right call. Remember what I said about traveling?” Toni asked. 

“Yes?” Shelby replies hesitantly. 

“You don’t remember do you.” Toni laughs. 

“Not at all.” Shelby confesses. 

“Okay so traveling is when the player who has possession of the ball moves one or both of their feet illegally. So, let’s say the player moves or shuffles her feet without starting a dribble, traveling can be called.”

“Ohhhh, okay now I remember.”

The two continue to watch the game silently. Minnesota comes out with a 98 to 86 victory over the Fever to Toni’s extreme delight. 

“So, what do you think? Is basketball a little less boring to you now?” Toni asks. 

“It’s okay.” Shelby says, not wanting to admit to Toni that she had actually enjoyed watching with her, listening to how animated and passionate Toni had been talking throughout the game. 

Toni nods in response, happy she was able to convince Shelby to put a little respect on her game no matter how small. 

Shelby looked up the clock on the wall, not noticing how late it had gotten. 

“You should probably head home soon…” Shelby said, looking away from Toni as the brunette stretched her arms over her head, and let out a satisfied groan. 

“What’s the rush?” Toni asked, honestly stalling because she was in no hurry to begin her long trek back home. 

“My mom will be home soon.” Shelby explained. “I’m not allowed to have friends over after ten.” 

Toni smirked. “So, we’re friends now huh?” 

“I’m not allowed to have enemies over after ten.” Shelby corrected herself, rolling her eyes at Toni.

“Enemies…friends…lovers” Toni husked, Shelby breath catching as Toni’s voice got deeper as she spoke. “Sounds like an epic romance to me.” Toni continued, moving closer to Shelby on the couch just knowing that she was pushing the other girl’s buttons. 

“Sounds more like a nightmare to me.” Shelby bit out, feeling nervous by Toni’s incoming proximity. She tried to back herself further into the corner of the couch. 

Toni noticed how nervous she was making Shelby and bit back a smirk. This was more like it. She grazed her hand down Shelby’s exposed arm which caused the other girl to jerk back to hide the fact that it made her shiver. 

“Do I make you nervous, Shelby?”

“No!” Shelby exclaimed, not for one minute wanting Toni to think she had _any_ kind of effect on her other than pure revulsion. “I’m just ticklish is all.” Shelby hoped that explanation was good enough to cover the involuntary shiver that came out of her from Toni’s touch before. It was apparently the wrong thing to say as the comment made a mischievous smile spread across Toni’s face. 

“Oh, you’re ticklish huh?” Toni asks, reaching her arms back towards Shelby’s armpits. 

“Don’t you dare!” Shelby shrieked, jumping up from the couch and away from Toni’s searching hands. Oh, this was beginning to be too much fun, Toni thought. She got up from the couch to face off Shelby from the other side of the coffee table. 

“I swear to God Toni if you-“

“AHH!” Shelby squealed as Toni made her way around the coffee table and began chasing the blonde. They ran around the living room for a bit, Shelby even going so far as to jump over the couch to put distance between herself and Toni. They eventually left the living room and Shelby ran into her room, ending up on one side of the bed with Toni on the other. 

“Give…up…yet?” Toni panted out, a huge grin on her flushed face. 

“Never.” Shelby replied, an involuntary grin forming on her face as well. Shelby launched herself over the bed just as Toni dove for her, the paid now ending on opposite sides from where they started. Toni went to leap for her again but caught her sneaker on one of Shelby’s bedposts, causing her to painfully crash to the floor. 

“Fuck! OW!” Toni yelled out, grabbing her knee in pain. 

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Shelby asked concerned, closing the distance between them to help her out. 

Toni continued to writhe in pain and Shelby got closer. The moment Shelby was in arms reach; Toni grabbed her. 

“You lying ass-!” Shelby yelped out as Toni closed her grip around her. Shelby was lash around in Toni’s arms trying to free herself, but the struggle just ended up with the two of them tumbling onto Shelby’s bed with Toni on top of the blonde. 

“You are such a filthy liar.” Shelby panted out. 

“Don’t be mad that you got outplayed. I won.” Toni smiled, still out of breath as well. 

“You cheated.” 

A strand of hair fell free from Shelby’s ponytail to cover her face. Instinctively, Toni let go of one of the blonde’s arms from where she had them pinned beneath her and reached up to brush the stray hair out of Shelby’s face and behind her ear. 

The action managed to break the two out of whatever haze they had been in and now they were suddenly both aware of their closeness. Shelby swallowed hard as she looked up at Toni who was gazing between the blonde’s eyes and her lips. Shelby’s breath hitched upon noticing how Toni was staring at her and her stomach has begun twisting the way it usually did when Toni –

Shelby broke away sharply and pushed Toni away, causing Toni to crash flat on her ass next to the bed. 

“You – you should go. It’s getting late and my –“ Shelby began, feeling incredibly uneasy when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. “My Mom!” Shelby whispered in a panic. She ran to her bedroom door and quickly slammed it shut, whirling around to face Toni. 

“You need to hide, quick!” Shelby warned her. Toni was still looking around like a deer in headlights from being tossed on the floor. 

“Get under the bed!” Shelby ordered. 

Toni managed to get her bearings and a second before Shelby’s bedroom door had opened, Toni had managed to fit herself under the bed and out of sight. 

“Hi sweetie! You’re still awake?” Jo Goodkind asked as she entered the room. 

“Yeah.” Shelby answered, still trying to get her panicked breathing under control. “I was actually just getting ready for bed.”

“Are you okay, hon?” Jo asked in concern, coming forward to put a hand on Shelby’s forehead. “You look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine.” Shelby replied a little too enthusiastically. “I’m fine Mama, I promise.” Shelby repeated, a little calmer. “How was book club?”

“It was good.” Jo replied. “The girls said to say hi.”

“Good. I’m glad. 

“Alright. Well, I just wanted to say goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, Mom.”

Shelby opened the bedroom door for her Mom and watched her walk down the hallway, into her room and out of sight. 

Toni nearly bashed her head against the bottom of Shelby’s bedframe when the blonde’s head popped under the mattress. 

“You need to get out of here.” Shelby hissed. 

“Yeah, no shit.” Toni grumbled, sliding herself out from under the bed. 

Shelby walked to her bedroom window and opened it. “Go.” She ordered, pointing outside. 

“Um. You want me to jump out of the window? Are you insane?” Toni asked, incredulous. 

“Use the tree, idiot.” Shelby replied with an annoyed tone. 

“How am I supposed to climb down a tree with no branches on it, genius?” 

Shelby popped her head out the window and noticed to her extreme annoyance that Toni was right, the branches had been cut. 

“Well, you can’t go down the stairs. My mom will hear you.”

“Right.” 

Shelby started pacing in frustration. 

“What if we just wait until your Mom’s asleep? I can just sneak out then.” Toni suggested. 

“That won’t work. My mom has like supernatural hearing. She hears the slightest creak and she will be out of her bedroom and investigating before you can even blink.”

“Guess, I’m sleeping over then.” Toni smirked, plopping herself on Shelby’s bed and laying back spread out like a starfish. 

“In your dreams.” Shelby spat. 

Toni scoffed. “Hardly. You think I want to be stuck here listening to you snore all night?” 

“I do _not_ snore. And get off of my bed. If you’re stuck sleeping here, you’re sleeping on the floor.” Shelby replied in outrage, hands coming to rest on her hips. 

“So hospitable.” Toni replied with an eye roll but did as she was told and got up and went to sit on the windowsill. 

Shelby just gave up on arguing further and walked over to her dresser to pull out some pajamas. She went into her bathroom to change, leaving Toni to her own devices eventually walking out to catch Toni staring at her. 

“What?” Shelby asked with a furrowed brow, suddenly feeling self-conscious under Toni’s gaze. Toni had her eyes glued to the way Shelby’s legs looked in her sleep shorts, but quickly cleared her throat, snapping herself out of it. 

“Nothing.” 

Shelby pursed her lips but moved to get into her bed, tucking herself under the sheets and turned off the lights. She closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep as she heard Toni shuffle around the room. Toni let out a few quiet curses as she tried to move around the room in the dark, hopping on one foot attempting to get her sneaker off. Shelby cracked her eyes open and watched as Toni, partially bathed in moonlight, began to undress. She unzipped her track jacket and tossed it on the floor then moved to grasp her shirt to pull it over her head leaving her in black sports bra. 

Throat suddenly dry, Shelby watched as Toni took her hair out of her ponytail, shaking her long curly hair out to cascade over her shoulders. She drew in a breath when Toni reached down to start unbuttoning her jeans. Shelby jumped up. 

“Wha – What do you think you’re doing?” Shelby asked, her voice wavering. 

“Um, I’m getting ready for bed.” Toni replied, confused as to what the blonde’s problem was now. 

“Why are you taking your clothes off?” 

“Because I sleep naked?” Toni said, as if stating the obvious. 

“Well, you can’t sleep naked here!” Shelby protested, her voice raising an octave. 

“Why not?” Toni asked, not seeing the problem. 

“Because I said –“ Shelby began to grit out but stopped herself upon hearing a door open from down the hall. “My Mom, quick!” Shelby gasped. “Get under the bed!” 

Toni dove to the floor and started to crawl under when Shelby hissed. 

“Toni, your clothes!” 

Toni quickly got up and began gathering her things from off the floor and moved to quickly shove them under the bed but by the time she tried to crawl under herself, the doorknob to Shelby’s room was being turned. 

Without a second thought, Toni threw herself onto the bed and dove under the covers. She glued herself against Shelby’s lower body in the hoped that Shelby’s mom would not notice the extra volume under Shelby’s fluffy comforter. Shelby gasped loudly at the contact of Toni’s partially clothed body against hers but quickly moved to hold her breath as her mother popped her head into the room.


	6. Chapter 6

“Shelby, are you ok? I thought I heard voices in here. " Toni heard Jo ask Shelby from where she was clutching Shelby under the comforter.

Toni held her breath, pulling herself closer to Shelby’s now trembling form as the sound of footsteps let her know that Mrs. Goodkind was coming into the room.

Shelby felt completely frozen, partially in fear of getting caught and partially to keep her body from shaking from the feeling of Toni’s hands lightly gripping at her thighs. 

"I-I'm fine!" she managed to say in a nervous stutter.

"Are you sure?" Jobeth asked taking a seat on the mattress next to her daughter. 

Shelby wished that the floor would open up and swallow her whole. In terms of some of her biggest nightmares, the scene playing now out had to be right up there. She needed to stay calm and get her mom out of the room, fast. 

“Y-Yes, I’m sure. I was just face timing with Dottie, is all.” She reached over slightly to her right and grabbed her phone off of her nightstand to show her mom. “She was just asking a question about the assignment we’re turning in for Spanish tomorrow.”

Toni remained as still as possible under the covers. Her chest was pressed against Shelby’s left thigh and her head rested on Shelby’s now partially bare stomach, her movement from earlier causing her shirt to ride up. 

“You still look flushed, sweetie.” Jo said, reaching over to place her hand back on Shelby’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

Shelby shook her head. “I feel fine, Mama. H-honest.” 

Shelby could feel Toni slightly shift under the covers and felt slender fingers gently graze the inside of her thigh. It took all of Shelby’s strength to keep from gasping, her facial muscles tightening as she held back the urge. 

“Shelby?”

“Hmm?” Shelby responded; her lips pressed together tightly. 

“I said do you want me to get you anything? Water?” 

“No. I’m goo-ood.” The last word came out of Shelby’s mouth in a breathy whisper as she felt Toni’s warm breath ghost across her stomach. She slammed her eyes shut so her mom couldn’t see the fact that Toni’s actions had caused her eyes to nearly roll back into her head. She prayed the slight tremor running though her body went unnoticed by her mother. 

“Okay, then.”

Toni could feel Shelby’s body lightly trembling beneath her. Despite the fact she was hiding in the bed of a girl she loathed, seconds away from being caught by said girl’s mother, Toni had to pummel the little voice in the back of her head that was telling her to continue to run her hands over the blonde’s legs or maybe to press her lips softy to her now exposed hipbone that smelt like fucking brown sugar…

’God, focus Toni. What the fuck is wrong with you?’ Toni did her best to concentrate on staying as still as possible, not aware that she was starting to pant under the covers. 

Shelby knew right there and then, that despite the current scenario she was in that seemed like it could pass for a version of hell, God did in fact truly exist. It must be true the blonde thought, because her mother had managed to turn her back to Shelby the moment Toni’s breath became more evident on her stomach. 

Shelby knew the look on her face was mortifyingly sinful. She tried to slightly squirm out of Toni’s grip as her mom got off the bed and started making her way out of the room. Her squirming eventually ended up with her right leg sliding up, her shin managing to make contact right between Toni’s legs; Toni couldn’t help but let out a groan as she pressed herself closer into Shelby’s leg at the accidental contact. 

“What did you say baby?” Jo asked, turning around at the doorway to face Shelby. 

“I-I said…goodnight, Mom!” Shelby lied. She was ready to just about die in mortification. 

Mrs. Goodkind gave Shelby a soft smile, “Goodnight, hon.”, She flicked the light off. 

With the door finally closed behind her, Shelby and Toni remained frozen in place until they heard the door close at the far end of the hall. The room was completely silence save for the small pants coming out of Shelby. 

Shelby pressed her lips tightly together as she felt Toni start crawling her way out of the covers. Instead of rolling off of Shelby, Toni slowly slid her body up against the length of the blondes, her curly hair popping up from underneath the comforter until she ended up hovering over Shelby braced on one of her elbows. Shelby’s body was coiled so tight she felt as if she may snap in half. Toni leaned over her letting out a relieved breath, totally unaware of how tense Shelby was beneath her. 

“Shit, that was close.” 

Shelby just stared at her, but found her treacherous eyes moving down to glance at Toni’s sports bra clad chest. 

“Are you okay?” Toni asked, finally clueing in to how zoned out Shelby was. It took only a second between Toni’s question and the action that followed. Something flashed in Shelby’s eyes and suddenly Toni found herself once again landing hard on her ass on the floor next to the blonde’s bed. 

“Jesus, fuck!” Toni bit out in a whisper, now completely pissed off at how she had spent the majority of the evening in Shelby’s house being tossed around like a fucking doll. 

“Stay out of my bed!” Shelby hissed, careful to control the volume of her voice so her mother didn’t attempt to check in her room again. 

Toni’s looked up at the blonde, sitting all smug and high and mighty on her bed. Her lips curled into a snarl and she reached forward, yanking the comforter off of Shelby and onto her body on the floor. She pulled it closer to her body to swaddle herself in it. 

“Suit yourself, princess! I call dibs on the blankets.” Toni said, laying down on the floor to make herself more comfortable. 

Shelby responded by whipping a pillow at Toni’s head, making the brunette let out an ‘oof’ in response as she fell back on the floor from the force of the throw. She promptly got up and ripped the comforter off of Toni and threw it back on her bed before marching towards her closet. 

Toni watched as Shelby rummaged around, reaching for the top shelf to grab a storage container. She pulled it down and pulled out some bedding, tossing it at Toni. 

“Here’s your blankets.” Shelby said, getting back into bed and roughly pulling the comforter back over her, her mood skyrocketing right back to irritation from whatever the hell it had been before. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. 

“What the fuck is this?” Toni asked, spreading out the pink sheets Shelby has thrown at her. 

They were littered with rainbows and…My Little Ponies? 

Tony gasped as the sheets barely covered her upper body once they were fully laid out. “These are for fucking infants!” She complained. 

Shelby lifted her head from her pillow. “Then, they should be perfect for you.”

“This is bullshit.” Toni grumbled, attempting to maneuver herself into a fetal position to cover herself properly with the small sheets. It was futile. 

About five minutes of silence passed before Toni’s voice echoed through the room. 

“Yo, are you still up?”

Toni heard Shelby groan. 

“What do you want Toni?” 

“What’s the plan for the morning?”

“What do you mean?"

“Your Mom.” Toni clarifies. “What if she walks in again?”

"I've set an alarm. We wake up before she does, wait until she leaves to drive my brother and sister to school then we can leave and end this nightmare. By the way, you are never setting foot in my house ever again." And with that Shelby turned over to face away from her. 

Another couple of minutes pass before Toni speaks up again. 

“What about school?” 

“Toni, for the love of God, can you please go to sleep?”

“I’m just saying. We need a game plan. Something to get the whole school talking. Maybe we should hook up in the cafeteria or something?”

At Toni’s mention of them kissing, Shelby felt her whole body tense. “We already did that.” She said quickly. “No need to carry in any further.”

“Making out in front of the Robo version of Serena Williams and her nerd sister is not enough. They literally have no friends besides each other. Not exactly the greatest source for gossip spread.”

Silence. 

“Shelby?”

“I’m thinkin’”

The time it took Shelby to ‘think’, was about as endlessly annoying as everything she did, Toni thought. “So…you done thinking yet?” 

“Ugh.” Shelby groaned. “Fine. We’ll go with your plan. Tomorrow, at lunch. Now shut up and go to bed.”

Shelby felt a pit grow in her stomach as she attempted to settle down to sleep. But sleep was just not going to happen for her that night. Shelby’s overwhelming anxiety caused her to do nothing but toss and turn. Her thoughts felt suffocating, making it hard to breathe, to move, to think, to do anything at all.

Shelby turned over to the side of her mattress and looked down to where Toni was apparently sleeping soundly. 

‘Of course’ Shelby thought. Figures Toni would be able to just sleep blissfully while her mind decided to torture her. Shelby continued to toss and turn under her covers until Toni’s voice broke through the silence in the room. 

“What’s the matter with you?” She asked groggily. She had been listening to Shelby act out her Restless Leg Syndrome step routine for the last hour, making it impossible to fall asleep. 

"Nothing." Shelby quickly lied.

“Then why are you moving around like you’ve been electrocuted?”

"I can’t get comfortable.” Shelby responded. 

"Want me to tranq you?” 

Shelby ignored the comment and instead let the words that have been rolling around in her head for the last hour slip out. "It’s just that…." She started, “maybe it’s not a good idea.” 

“What’s not a good idea Shelby?”

"The... plan... and kissing." Shelby hesitated to say. 

Here we go again, Toni thought. The constant back and forth with Shelby was getting exhausting. First she agrees, then she changes her mind, then she _kisses_ her, then she changes her mind. Toni was beginning to suspect something else was going on and she was determined to find out what. 

"Fine Shelby. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it isn’t a good idea anymore." Toni offered.

"Really?” She sat up on the bed, a bit relieved that Toni was agreeing with her. 

“Yeah, I mean, if you’re afraid that kissing me may be too much for you to handle, I get it. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of me either.” Toni teased her, not serious at all but knowing her comment would set Shelby off. 

Shelby felt herself stir with nervousness and irritation at the comment. “That is _not_ what is happening here. You know, how many times do I have to say to it before you get it through your thick head? You disgust me!”

“Funny. Your moans from earlier today didn’t really sound like disgust.” Toni brought her hand up to her chin pretending to be in thought. “Seems to me like you’re afraid you can’t control yourself around me.”

At the mention of their earlier kiss, Shelby blushed. She did her best to tamp down whatever feeling was coming over her and move right onto unequivocally denying Toni’s claim. Toni could not be more wrong. Shelby had control. She had so much control that Toni didn’t even know the half of it. And she was going to prove it. 

“Toni, I could kiss you anytime, anyplace, if only I could repress the intense need to vomit any time you come near me.” Shelby snapped. 

Toni smirked, sitting up on the floor. This should be good. 

“Okay Shelby. Then prove it.” She challenged. 

“Fine, I will.” Shelby replied, remaining firm. 

Toni got up from the floor and moved to sit on the side of the bed next to Shelby, staring into her eyes. “Go on, then.”

Shelby felt her confidence deflate a bit having Toni so close to her. 

“Wait, now?”

Toni smiled, knowing she just called Shelby’s bluff. 

“Obviously.” 

“I thought we agreed on tomorrow?” 

“Well, I thought since you can’t seem to be around me for more than two minutes without running in the opposite direction, I thought we’d practice.” 

“Right, well like I said, that’s because of the disgust and all.”

“Sure.” Toni said, letting Shelby keep her delusions. “So maybe a little practice is a good idea? To make you a little less disgusted…”

They sat in silence while Shelby. Shelby knew that she needed to prove to Toni that she was completely unaffected by her, which is why she mustered all of her confidence and blurted out, 

“Fine. Touch me.” She ordered. 

This time it was Toni who blushed bright red at the blonde’s commanding voice. Her embarrassment wasn’t enough to stop her from snapping into action though. She reached her hands forward to run them up Shelby’s thighs. 

“Not that kind of touchin’!” Shelby choked out, throwing Toni’s hands off of her before she could feel her thighs tremble. 

“Sorry.” Toni held her hands up in front of her and waited for Shelby to give her the go ahead to try and touch her again. The blonde nodded and Toni reached forward with her right hand to gently place it on Shelby’s right shoulder. Caressing Shelby’s collar bone with her thumb, Toni gently moved to slowly run her hand down Shelby’s arm. 

Shelby tried to remain as calm as possible as Toni touched her. Toni’s touch on her arm burning her almost as much as her hands on her thighs did. The second Toni shuffled closer to her and wrapped her arm around her waist to draw her closer, Shelby felt herself draw in a breath and completely tense up. 

Toni just sighed and loosened her grip. “See this is exactly what I’m talking about.”

“I’m sorry!” Shelby whispered. “It’s just…never mind. Never mind, I’m good. Let’s try again.” 

Shelby took in another breath to relax herself. 

Toni decided to try a new tactic, and went to move behind Shelby on the bed so the other girl couldn’t see her. “Let’s try this, okay?”

She waited for Shelby to give her a nod of approval and then spread her legs out on either side of her. “Lean back against me.” Toni breathed in her ear. 

Shelby swallowed hard but did as she was asked, moving until her back was against Toni’s front and the brunette’s arms laid loosely around her waist. Toni reached up and gently brushed Shelby’s hair over her right shoulder, exposing her neck. Shelby instinctively tilted her head to the right and let out a low gasp as she felt Toni’s lips gently brush over her shoulder. Toni stopped again, feeling Shelby tense up but Shelby shook her head after a few seconds letting her know she could continue. 

Toni placed delicate kisses along the blonde’s shoulder moving up to her neck. The kisses grew in intensity and she lightly sucked on the tan skin of Shelby’s neck eventually moving up to take Shelby’s earlobe in her mouth and biting it lightly. 

Shelby completely lost herself to sensation. She felt Toni’s arms tighten around her waist and draw her body closer and felt herself finally relax in the other girls embrace, reaching her arms up to drag them along Toni’s forearms that were clasped around her midsection. Shelby allowed a light moan to escape her lips as Toni continued to move her kisses from her neck to along her jawline. She was about to turn her head toward Toni to capture her lips when Toni suddenly backed away. 

It took a second for her to perceive the loss of Toni’s touch, but eventually she did. She blinked wildly as she tried to focus her foggy eyes on the other girl.

"What?" Shelby breathed. 

"I heard a noise."

They sat in silence, waiting for another sound, but it never came. They exchanged a quick glance and all the awkwardness of the moment came flooding in. Shelby nervously ran her hands through her hair as she struggled to find something to say.

"Well... I-I guess... we're... done." She managed to stutter.

"Yeah." Toni desperately tried to sound nonchalant and calm about the whole situation but on the inside, she was completely freaking out over how lost in the moment she had gotten once again. She awkwardly stumbled out of Shelby’s bed and went back to her spot on the floor. 

"Well... Goodnight." Shelby stammered as she watched Toni lay down. 

She pulled her covers over her shoulders, nuzzling against the pillow. She held her breath as she recognized a strange scent over her sheets and all around her – Toni’s scent. Once again, she struggled to find slumber, but this time she wasn't alone. On the floor, lying spread-eagle, Toni stared up at the ceiling, her mind wandering, unable to fall asleep.

It was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

Shelby could not remember the last time she had a night where she was this restless. After two attempts at falling asleep, one if which resulted in her practically gasping awake from a dream not only because it was incredibly dirty, but because the co-star of said dream happened to be laying not five feet away from her. Shelby wondered how soon she could beeline it to her church so they could purge her of her sins by dunking her in holy water. Maybe they could use those Gatorade coolers players liked to toss on their coaches at the end of a successful football game. Whatever the option, Shelby felt like she needed it in spades. 

For what felt like the twentieth time that night, Shelby rolled over to check on Toni who was apparently still sound asleep on the floor with her back turned towards her. Toni being able to sleep soundly was just another item Shelby could add to running list of reasons why she found the girl the most annoying person alive. 

Toni clenched her eyes as tight as possible and attempted to use every meditation trick her guidance counselor taught her in the hopes that she would finally be able to fall the fuck to sleep. Her mind had been running a constant loop of indecent thoughts starring the annoying blonde sleeping just a few feet away from her and if it didn’t stop soon Toni was liable to grab one of Shelby’s pageant trophies and start beating her own head in. 

‘Get a fucking grip, dude. Sure, Shelby is like objectively good looking but not enough to go fucking crazy over.’ Toni mentally scolded herself and cursed her treacherous body for practically thrumming over the mere thought of what happened between them earlier that night. 

Toni turned onto her stomach, hoping the cool hardwood of Shelby’s floor would help cool her down. Feeling her arm cramp a bit from having it curled underneath her, Toni moved her arms up to stretch. Her reach extended a bit too far however, as her hand accidentally bumped into one of the legs of Shelby’s nightstand causing it to wobble and Shelby’s cell phone that had been precariously balancing on the table’s edge, to promptly fall on the floor. 

“Shit!” Toni whispered, getting up to crawl forward in the dark to pick up the fallen phone. The phone illuminated as Toni picked it up from the floor and attempted to place it back on the table. Her eyes caught Shelby’s bright pink phone background that read “Lord I can’t but you can”. Toni couldn’t help but let out a loud snort. 

“What are you doing?”

The pool of light from the phone suddenly illuminated the now wide-awake blonde sitting up on her bed, scaring the crap out of Toni. 

“Jesus!”

“Give me that.” Shelby demanded, reaching forward to roughly grab her phone out of Toni’s hands. Her grab managed to make one of her apps open on her phone, and soon the soft strumming of guitar strings and a female voice was filling the room. 

_We were both young when I first saw you.  
I close my eyes and the flashback starts:  
I'm standing there  
On a balcony in summer air._

_See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns,  
See you make your way through the crowd,  
And say, "Hello."  
Little did I know..._

The two stared at each other for a glimpse of a second and then Shelby jumped into action to silence her phone. 

"No!" Toni called out.

Shelby stopped and turned to face her. She found Toni with a serious look on her face

"I wanna hear it." Toni said. 

_That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles  
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."  
And I was crying on the staircase  
Begging you, "Please don't go."  
And I said,_

_"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.  
I'll be waiting. All there's left to do is run.  
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.  
It's a love story. Baby, just say 'Yes'."_

Shelby raised her eyebrows.

"You? You want to listen to Taylor Swift?” She asked, completely cynical. 

"Why not?" Toni questioned innocently.

"Toni Shalifoe? Ms. Bad Ass Baller wants to listen to a sappy little love song?" Shelby chuckled. 

"I can do sappy. I have layers.” Toni said, defensively. 

"Oh, I’m sure you do.” Shelby said sarcastically shaking her head. 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I just find it hard to believe that you’re some secret romantic at heart.” She mocked while the song grew in intensity in the background

_So, I sneak out to the garden to see you.  
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew.  
So, close your eyes,  
Escape this town for a little while.  
Oh, oh._

_'Cause you were Romeo. I was a scarlet letter.  
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."  
But you were everything to me.  
I was begging you, "Please don't go!"  
And I said,_

“My romantic side seemed to get us into this situation didn’t it?” Toni mocked back. 

Shelby couldn’t help but admit she was right. 

“Well, you got me there.” She said with a smile. 

_"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.  
I'll be waiting. All there's left to do is run.  
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.  
It's a love story. Baby, just say 'Yes'._

The two found themselves staring intensely at each other once again as they realized that they were having a civil conversation without the usual banter or sparing. The music continued to play in the background and a chill ran down Shelby's spine. She shook her head as the moment became too much and looked down at the sheets avoiding Toni’s piercing gaze. The lyrics playing in the background suddenly becoming too much. 

_Romeo, save me. They're trying to tell me how to feel.  
This love is difficult but it's real.  
Don't be afraid. We'll make it out of this mess.  
It's a love story. Baby, just say 'Yes'."_

_Oh, oh, oh._

_I got tired of waiting,  
Wondering if you were ever coming around.  
My faith in you was fading,  
When I met you on the outskirts of town.  
And I said,_

Awkwardly, Shelby straightened herself out on the bed, turning her phone over in her hands as the song moved into its outro. 

"Romeo, save me. I've been feeling so alone.  
I keep waiting for you, but you never come.  
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think."  
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,

"So..." Shelby started not daring to look in Toni’s direction. She froze when she realized the other girl was standing up and coming to sit on the bed next to her. She remained still, holding her breath as Toni reached for a loose strand of her hair and slowly pushed it behind her ear.

_"Marry me, Juliet. You'll never have to be alone  
I love you, and that's all I really know.  
I talked to your dad. Go pick out a white dress.  
It's a love story. Baby, just say 'Yes'."_

As Toni leaned in closer, something inside of her snapped. Shelby jumped up and was standing by the bed in a flash, her voice over enthusiastic and high-pitched:

"Ok! I think we've practiced that enough for tonight!"

Toni just stared at her under a furrowed brow until she understood what the blonde meant.

"Well, we-we better get some sleep, tomorrow being a school day and all. And-" She spoke quickly and awkwardly as she searched for her phone that somehow got lost in her comforter. 

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh._

_'Cause we were both young when I first saw you._

Silence once again filled the room as the song ended and Shelby finally closed out of the app for good. Shelby set the phone on the nightstand and stood beside the bed looking at Toni with a plastic smile on her face. 

Clearly embarrassed, Toni stood up and moved to take her place on the floor once again.

"Well... Goodnight." Shelby piped up as she snuck under the covers, but she had no answer.

She felt something tug at her racing heart, but ignored it, closing her eyes and forcing herself to fall asleep.

~+~

After finally succumbing to sleep for little more than two hours, Shelby was awoken by her phone alarm at seven am. Groaning, Shelby reached over to silence it. Shelby stretched in an attempt to wake her body up a little more and moved to get up. 

She looked down at the floor to find Toni sprawled on her stomach, a mess of curls covering her face and the small little sheets she had provided her the night before wrapped around her back like a little cape. 

"Toni..." She called softly but had no answer. "Toni..." She whispered once again, this time reaching for her giving her a light push.

"Mmm..." She heard Toni mumble as she turned on her side to face away from her.

"Toni…you need to wake up. My mom will be up any minute.” She said climbing off the bed and sitting on the floor next to her.

Her hands rested on Toni’s arm, pulling at the other girl to turn her around as she spoke. Eventually, Toni did but she was still fast asleep. Shelby watched as Toni nestled her face against her thighs. It was a little strange how peaceful the other girl looked, how... non obnoxious.

Instinctively, Shelby ran her fingers over Toni’s sharp cheekbones leaving her thumb behind to caress the amazingly soft skin there. She caught her breath as Toni nuzzled against it, her lips curling slightly up for a lazy smile. Shelby heard Toni mumble something in her sleep and she leaned forward to hear more clearly what the brunette was saying. 

"Regan..."

Shelby’s eyes grew wide as she felt her stomach twist in disgust. In a flash, she was up and shaking Toni gruffly: "Wake up!"

"Hum... What?" The brunette blinked wildly as she tried to ascertain where she was. A deep furrow marred her eyebrows as her sight focused on the blonde violently walking around in circles. 

"Oh, God... It wasn't a nightmare." Toni grumbled with a hoarse voice.

"Get up, get under the bed and don't get out of there until I tell you!" Shelby said simply before she opened the door and walked out of the room, leaving a dumbstruck Toni behind.

~+~

The moment the front door closed and Shelby saw her mother’s car pull out of the driveway with her siblings in tow, Shelby raced back up the stairs. 

She stopped abruptly when she reached her bedroom. Taking in two deep, long breaths, she turned the doorknob and entered the room.

"Toni?" She asked when the brunette was nowhere in sight. "Toni?"

She walked in and headed for the bed, bending down to check under it. Nothing. "Ton-"

"BAH!" Two hands were on her waist as a loud voice filled the room.

"AHH!" Shelby screamed off the top of her lungs, twisting around suddenly, her right knee coming up instinctively. 

It was Toni's turn to howl - in throbbing pain as Shelby’s knee had made direct contact with her stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of her. 

Shelby's fingers automatically went for her mouth, her eyes widening as she watched the brunette collapse on the floor, grabbing her stomach. 

"I-I'm sorry." She stuttered, frozen in place, her eyebrows wrinkled in a painful frown. 

"What the fuck!?" Toni yelled, still lying on the floor, her face the picture of agony. "God, I think you ruptured my kidney."

"I-I.." Shelby stammered as she kneeled next to her.

Immediately, Toni jumped back, fear coming over her "Stay away from me!” Toni ordered between pants. “I have been beaten up so much in this house in the last twenty-four hours I feel like I’m in the fucking Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

"Well... " Shelby said outraged as she stood up. "You-you shouldn't have grabbed me like that."

"It was a joke." Toni protested as she tried to get up to her feet but failed. "I think I'll just lay down for a little bit.” She said flopping herself inelegantly back on the floor. 

Shelby rolled her eyes at the girl’s dramatics. She didn’t hit her that hard. 

"Whatever I'm going to take a shower." 

~+~

Toni waited patiently on the floor, prodding her tender stomach from the hit from Shelby’s bionic kneecap when she heard the door squeak open. She turned to see Shelby's drenched head pop in.

"Turn around." She ordered.

"I’m practically incapacitated and you want me to turn around?" Toni asked. 

"Close your eyes then!” Shelby snapped. 

"You know girls in towels isn’t exactly a novel concept to me.” Toni said with an eye-roll. 

"Do you want another kick to the stomach?” Shelby questioned innocently as she put on her sweetest, fake smile.

Toni sighed, and made a show of dramatically closing her eyes tightly for the blinded. She could hear Shelby quietly padding around the room and the faint scent of brown sugar body wash that followed her. Instinctively, Toni inhaled a little deeper and the aroma surrounded her. 

"You open your eyes and I swear I will maim you.” Shelby threatened.

“Relax Beatdown Betty, my eyes are glued shut, I assure you.”

Toni patiently waited for her signal, listening carefully to the shuffling; the sound of the wardrobe door opening and closing a few times and then Toni could hear the sound of clothes being put on.

“I would offer you something to wear so you don’t have to wear the same thing to school today but I don’t think our styles exactly align.”

Toni snickered. That was an understatement. She imagined Shelby handing her some fuzzy pink cardigan or something equally ridiculous but that thought suddenly morphed into visualizing Shelby wearing _her_ clothes and Toni felt her body grow hot. She cleared her throat and attempted to shelve that image indefinitely. 

“I’ll just text Marty to bring me something from my room. It’s all good.”

She heard Shelby stop moving, could feel the other girl’s eyes on her despite hers being shut. “I didn’t know you lived with Martha.”

“Why would you?” Toni responded. It’s not like she and Shelby were on some deeply personal level or had plans to be. Shelby didn’t respond and eventually Toni heard her continue to move around the room, no doubt trying on her fifth outfit of the morning. 

"Are you done yet?" Toni asked, losing patience. 

"I can’t decide what to wear.” Shelby admitted. 

“Screw this!” Toni said, getting up, still attempting to keep her eyes closed. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m not going to lay around all morning while you try on every skirt in your closet. Maybe, I want to shower too.” 

Toni turns in the opposite direction and opens her eyes, moving toward the bathroom door and shutting it behind her before the blonde can object. 

Toni entered the bathroom and quickly turned the shower on. She grabbed a towel from the linen shelf on the wall and moved to undress before stepping in the shower and the hot spray of Shelby’s shower. She quickly shampoos and conditions her hair noting the intoxicating smell permeating the bathroom from using all of Shelby’s hair products. She pulls the bottle of Shelby’s body wash off the cut-out shelf in the shower and snaps the cap open, bring it closer to her nose to breath in the scent. She quickly catches herself and rolls her eyes at how ridiculous she’s being, she squirts some of the body wash in her hands and quickly scrubs herself. 

Toni finishes showering and gets dressed back in her clothes from the previous night, exiting the bathroom while towel drying her hair and finding Shelby standing in her room dressed in a yellow floral sundress. 

"All that time for that?" Toni said, not wanting to admit whatsoever that Shelby actually looked good. She really needed to get out of this house before she said something stupid like how the color of her dress actually made her eyes look incredible. Jesus, being in this proximity to Shelby for this long was clearly breaking something in her brain. 

"What's wrong with this?" Shelby asked a little offended turning to look at herself in the mirror. 

"Nothing. It's fine!" Toni responded immediately. "Let's go!" She continued gently grabbing Shelby’s arm to drag her out of the room. 

~+~ 

The drive to school was awkward with the pair sitting in silence, while sparing a glance at each other every so often. They eventually pulled into the parking lot and got out to walk up the main steps of the school to enter and made their ways through the hall. Shelby eventually brought them to a halt when she found herself at the entrance to her AP history class. 

"This is me." She said as she played with the cover of her history book.

Toni awkwardly nodded as she shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. Shelby's gaze bounced off the walls and scanned the entire hall as she tried to avoid the brunette standing in front of her. She froze as she saw Andrew and Regan walking towards them, the quarterback's arms draped over the girl’s shoulders. Toni followed her eyes and swallowed hard as the couple quickly approached them.

"Well... bye." Shelby uttered quickly as she turned around to enter the classroom, when she felt herself being pulled backwards by her left arm.

Before she could register Toni's arms around her or her chest pushed against hers, Toni’s lips came down to crush hers in a demanding kiss. She froze, feeling Toni’s hands gently run down the fabric of her dress to caress her lower back for a split second before she pulled away from her.

"Looks like practice makes perfect after all." Toni whispered in her ear before she walked away.

Shelby was left behind, completely dumbstruck, staring at girl as she strolled pass Andrew and Regan. 

"Regan. Andrew." She heard Toni greet them before Mrs. Wallace's high-pitched voice pierced its way through the haze that engulfed her.

"Miss Goodkind are you planning on joining us anytime soon?"

~+~

Shelby yawned loudly as she walked out of her second class of the day with Dot.

"Shelby, don’t take this the wrong way but you don’t look so good today. Is everything okay?” Dot asked. 

"I just didn't get much sleep last night. That's all." Shelby explained in a low voice.

"Alright. If you say so.” Dot said. “At least you have a few days off from you dad’s never ending extra-curricular bootcamp. It’s like, you’re already a shoo-in for UT, what more can you possibly do? Ooh, maybe yearbook club?” Dot continued to joke, not noticing the grimace that had come over Shelby’s face. 

Shelby had completely forgot that her dad would be home in a few days’ time. The past two days of events had honestly felt like weeks’ worth of events had unfolded. Thinking about her father’s inevitable return just made her feel suffocated with guilt. 

"Yeah, I guess.” Shelby mumbled.

"Yo bitches!" They heard Fatin's loud voice call out as she approached from down the hall with Leah. 

"Fatin, why do have to be so loud." Leah grumbled as they all walked towards the cafeteria. 

“Didn't hear you complaining last night, Rilke.” Fatin winked at her, and Leah jokingly pushed her towards the lockers. 

Shelby abruptly stopped, spotting something out of the corner of her eye. 

"What's up, Shelb?" Dot asked.

"I’m not feeling hungry anymore.” She stuttered awkwardly.

"No one is actually trying to eat that trash they serve us in the caf.” Fatin said. “We should just bail and I’ll drive us to Whataburger”

“Um, fuck yes.” Dot replied. 

"You guys go without me. I’ll catch you later.” 

"Shelby, Come on-"

Before Dot could say anything else, Shelby had whirled around and was steadily walking down the hall. Dot, Fatin and Leah exchanged a concerned look.

"What's up her?" Fatin asked. 

"I have no idea." Dot began as they entered the cafeteria. "She- Toni!" Dot jumped up as Toni appeared in front of her out of nowhere.

"Hey Campbell. Where's Shelby?"

"She wasn't feeling well. She doesn't want to have..." Dot wasn't able to finish her sentence as Toni turned around and left. Dot instantly frowned. "Wow, literally everyone is abandoning me today.”

"Don’t worry _Dorothy_ , I’ll never abandon you.” Fatin joked, swinging her arm around her shoulder and bringing the girl into her side. 

~+~

Shelby walked idly down the hall as she made her way to the football field when someone grabbed her by her arm and dragged her into an empty classroom.

"Toni.” Shelby jumped when she saw her and asked nervously: "What are you doing here?"

"You're not getting off the hook that easy." Toni said tilting her head as she leaned on the door, blocking Shelby’s way out.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" she stuttered. 

"Shelby..."

"Well... We already kissed, so... no need to do it in front of the whole student body anymore." She blurted out. Toni remained silent giving her a disapproving look, watching as she tried to excuse herself:

"I-I mean, we've achieved our goal, right? We kissed, people know we kiss. We are officially perceived as a kissing couple. Goal achieved. No more kissing required. End of kissing talk." She ended her rambling taking a deep breath and waited for Toni’s reaction.

Without a word, Toni walked over to her and she instinctively stepped back until the back of her legs hit the edge of a desk and Toni was able to close the distance between them. Shelby sinking back on the desk behind her made Toni slightly tower over her as she questioned her in a low voice, a smirk on her lips:

"Why does the thought of kissing me make you so nervous?"

Shelby froze for a split second, before jumping up and awkwardly slipping away from the brunette to quickly put the table between them.

"Nervous? I'm not nervous." Shelby tried to sound as sure of herself as possible, but failed as her voice came out in a squeak.

"Just admit it." Toni said plainly, leaning over on the desk. 

Shelby immediately stepped back.

"Admit what?"

"That you’re hot for me.”

"You’re delusional!" Shelby chuckled, but the uneasiness was still clear in her voice. 

Toni remained in place, just smirking at her.

"Stop that!" Shelby protested. 

"Stop what?"

"That grinning thing. It's distracting."

"Distracting?" Toni questioned, smirk still in place. “In what way?” 

Shelby stood up straight, crossing her arms around over her chest.

"What do you want me to say?" She grumbled.

"Why are you afraid to kiss me?" Toni finally asked seriously. 

"I'm not afraid, just disgusted." She retorted.

"Come on, Shelby..." Toni sighed audibly plopping onto a nearby desk. This routine with Shelby was getting tiresome. 

"Oh, fine, let's do it." Shelby said crossing the room and sitting on the table opposite her, her eyes closed as she pushed her lips together.

She waited and nothing. Finally, she opened her left eye to find Toni shaking her head at her. 

"What?" Shelby asked bringing her shoulders together.

"You..." Toni started pointing at her, before turning her finger on herself. "Kiss me."


	8. Chapter 8

Shelby's eyes widened at Toni’s demand. 

"What?" She exclaimed as her legs dangled off the desk.

"You heard me, Goodkind." Toni gave her a cocky smile and raised her eyebrow in challenge, daring the blonde to chicken out like she always did. 

Shelby was about to protest, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times as a frown settled on her forehead, but soon realized it was no use. 

"Fine. Let's get this over with." She exhaled sharply as she jumped off the table and closed the distance between them.

"It's so nice to feel wanted." Toni said sarcastically which earned her a forced smile from the blonde that now stood in front of her.

A moment of silence filtered between the two of them and Shelby took in a deep breath, closing her eyes and pausing before opening them again. 

She slowly moved in, leaning into Toni who still sat on one of the desks when suddenly, she backed away.

"What now?" The brunette asked with a frown as she watched Shelby walking around in circles. 

"Still haven't gotten over my disgust for you, sorry.” Shelby mumbled halfheartedly as she stopped to face her.

Toni simply looked at her with an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

"Take your time, Becky." Toni grumbled, emphasizing the last word.

In a flash, Shelby was in her face, cheeks flushed and anger flashing in her green eyes.

"It's Shelby! How many times do I have to tell you? Shelby, Shelby, Shelby!" She almost screamed. "God! You know, I don't know why I'm doing this." She waved her hands in the air as she started rambling. "I don't think seeing Andrew grovel at my feet is worth all the effort. You're just so... so..." She struggled to find the right word.

"Sexy?" Toni offered with a grin.

"UGH!..." She growled in Toni's face. "I hate you.” She said between clenched teeth. 

"Same,” Toni answered with a plastic smile.

Once again, Shelby sighed audibly as she frantically struggled with her hair, pulling it away from her face and tucking it behind her ears. She shook her arms at her side as if preparing for a race. 

Toni simply smiled at her dramatics amused at how much she flustered the blonde. 

Closing her eyes once more and inhaling sharply Shelby tried to calm herself. 

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she looked at Toni for a few seconds before quickly running her tongue over her lips to moisten them and leaned in. 

She could feel her heart slamming violently against her ribcage, her knees threatening to buckle from under her, the palms of her hands slightly sweating as she tilted her head sideways and closed her eyes. 

Her mouth barely brushed over Toni’s bottom lip, for a first innocent contact. 

She pulled away, just a bit, to breathe in before she returned to her task. This time, she parted her lips, taking Toni’s lower one between hers, pulling lightly at it as the kiss built up.

Toni remained frozen, her arms at her sides, partially supporting her weight on the desk, while Shelby kissed her. 

But eventually, Toni let out a deep groan as Shelby sucked her lower lip into her mouth as if wanting to devour it and instinctively wrapped her arms around the blonde, roughly pulling her closer until Shelby was between her legs, her arms crushed against her chest. 

Toni’s left hand slowly made its way from Shelby’s lower back to the crook of her neck, cupping her face to deepen the kiss.

Shelby's heart skipped a beat when she felt Toni’s tongue gliding over her mouth, as if asking permission to enter. Before she could even process the information, she was parting her lips, letting her in.   
A moan escaped her as the kiss intensified.

They pushed and tugged at each other's clothes as teeth and hands came into play. Shelby's fingers curled around the front collar of Toni’s shirt, bringing her even closer to her while she leaned into her. 

They kissed furiously as light moans occasionally filled the empty and silent classroom. Eventually, as lack of oxygen started to become an issue, Toni was forced to pull away from her. She looked at Shelby from under hooded and dazed eyes, her forehead resting on the blondes as she tried to speak coherently:

"Think you're..." Gasp. "Over..." Pant. "your disgust yet?" Toni managed to ask her between gasps feeling completely delirious, her gaze alternating between Shelby’s eyes and her swollen lips.

"Not sure..." She inhaled sharply closing her eyelids, trying hard to control her breathing before uttering: "Better make sure."

"Yeah, better safe than sorry.” Toni panted out. 

Shelby nodded in agreement as Toni’s hand gently cupped her cheek to pull her forward for another kiss.

Shelby had time for a short breath before Toni once more crushed their mouths together; her tongue slipping inside of Shelby’s mouth with ravenous urgency. 

Toni’s hands slid down to her thighs, hooking under them and pulling her skywards as she stood up; Shelby’s legs instinctively wrapping themselves around the brunette’s waist.

Shelby was so lost, she didn't even notice she was being carried across the classroom and set on a hard surface. She partially opened her eyes to quickly glance down and realized she was sitting on the teacher's desk with Toni nestled between her legs. She let out a deep groan as Toni nibbled her way across her jaw, towards the sensitive spot just below her earlobe.

Toni inhaled sharply and buried her nose in the blonde’s neck, breathing in the scent of Shelby’s perfume.

The sound of the blonde’s gasps sent chills down her spine and Toni’s grip on her thighs tightened as her tongue caressed the tender skin of Shelby’s neck.

Suddenly, a sharp, high-pitched sound pierced through their combined haze. 

"Wha..." Shelby tried to ask, but it seemed impossible.

"Mmm..." She heard Toni moan as the brunette’s mouth glided across her chin to reach her lips once more.

"Ton-" Shelby wasn't able to finish the word as Toni kissed her once again. 

"Toni..." She gasped when she had a chance. "The..." kiss "Hum..." kiss "The... ah..." She gave up and leaned in to deepen the kiss.

Once again, their moans and gasps filled the room and they were lost in a blinding haze when, suddenly, loud, gossiping voices broke the stillness. 

The noise lasted for a few moments before coming to an abrupt halt. Shelby opened her eyes for a split second, and they grew wide when she saw the door to the classroom wide open and a crowd of students standing dumbstruck at the threshold. It took a while for her to recognize them but, eventually, she did. 

She recognized Rachel and her sister Nora first, standing next to them was Lihn Bach, head of the yearbook committee, and then finally who else to round out the group of gawking spectators than Regan who was staring at the couple with thinly veiled shock and fury. 

Shelby froze, wide eyed, staring back at the mini-crowd gathered at the door. She was still too flabbergasted to realize Toni was still amorously nibbling at her ear.

"Toni!" Shelby called out in a panic, pulling at her jacket. There was no answer besides a deep groan.

"Why are you guys standing there like a bunch of idiots?" Andrew's voice hovered into the room as he made his way through the crowd. "Regan, babe, what going-" He stopped in mid sentence as he witnessed the same spectacle as the others.

"Toni!!!" Shelby screamed pushing the other girl away with such strength that the brunette stumbled backwards and only didn't fall flat on the floor thanks to a desk behind her.

"What?" She asked with a husky voice.

There was no need for Shelby to answer her question as she soon turned to see the group standing at the door.

"Oh..." Toni managed to say; her gaze flying from the crowd to the flushed blonde still sitting on the desk.

"I... We... I and- I" Shelby struggled with the words, trying to find an explanation for the event. "I..." She tried once more but was unsuccessful.

Her heart raced as everyone eyed her. She felt exposed…dirty…sinful. God, she felt... She had to get out of there, it was getting hard to breathe. 

In a flash, Shelby pushed Toni away from her as if she’d been burned and jumped off the desk. She ran out the door, pushing her way through the crowd, trying hard to ignore the look on everyone's faces.

Toni was left behind, now the center of attention of the group’s stares. She could barely wrap her head around what just happened with Shelby. The way the blonde has kissed her…and then the look on her face when they had been caught. 

Toni had ignored it before, when Shelby had faked their kiss in front of Rachel and Nora and then proceeded to bolt immediately after, but there was no way she could ignore it now. The look on Shelby’s face. 

Shelby was…terrified. 

And Toni was finally forced to acknowledge the truth that she had been shoving in the back of her mind for the last few days, fearful of what it could mean if she finally opened that Pandora’s Box of thoughts and feelings that centered around Shelby Goodkind. But now, confronted with the reality of what had just taken place, how things had escalated between them to the point that she didn't know how far things would have progressed if they hadn't been interrupted. That paired with the way Shelby had reacted to her last night in her room, Toni now knew once thing for certain. 

Shelby Goodkind was definitely …not straight. 

Little miss bible thumping, Teen Texas, practically perfect in every way was harboring some seriously repressed homosexuality. 

Fake dating scheme or not there was no faking the kind of intensity and attraction that the blonde has fused into her kisses and it was way more than some straight girl experimenting at a party. Hell, Toni couldn't even recall a time where _Regan _kissed her with that much passion.__

__And that brought Toni her second realization._ _

__Shelby Goodkind was attracted…to _her_. _ _

__Toni feels like her whole world had just been blown wide open and feels like an absolute idiot for not getting it sooner._ _

__The information felt like it was way too much to process at once but god, she _really_ needed to talk to Shelby. _ _

__But first, she had an audience to get rid of._ _

__She tried to play it cool, not wanting to show her inner panic and her desire to run after Shelby._ _

__In complete silence, she stood up straight, shoved her hands into her pockets and started to leave the room when a strong hand gripped her arm. Toni turned around to see a seriously pissed off Andrew staring down at her._ _

__Andrew was about to say something when Regan leaned into him and whispered something into his ear. He remained still for a few seconds, pondering what to do._ _

__"Got something to say?" Toni asked between clenched teeth, practically daring Andrew to make a move._ _

__Without a word, Andrew let go of her arm and the brunette stormed away while the small crown started to disband._ _

__~+~_ _

__"Shelby!" Toni shouted as she watched Shelby run down the hall._ _

__Shelby’s response was to increase her speed as she opened the main door and exited the building. "Shelby stop! Shelby!" Toni yelled after her._ _

__Shelby didn't answer, just continued to jog across the parking lot._ _

__"Shelby, wait! We need to... talk!" Toni began coughing as she was almost catching up with her when Shelby suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and faced her with a murderous look on her face._ _

__"What?!" Shelby snapped while she watched the brunette bend down and rest her hands on her knees as she gasped and panted, seriously out of breath._ _

__"I-" Toni coughed. "need to talk to you.'"_ _

__"Why?!" Shelby yelled. "You got what you wanted! Did you see their faces? Did you?"_ _

__"Shelby, I – Why didn’t you tell me?” Toni asked between gasps as she stood up straight, her hand resting on her stomach._ _

__"Tell you what?" Shelby practically screamed._ _

__"You know what Shelby…” Toni said softly, her eyes searching._ _

__Shelby could barely look at her. She felt trapped, panicked, and it felt like her whole world was closing in on her._ _

__"I can’t do this – I can’t.” She shouted._ _

__Toni reaches forward to gently grab her arm in an attempt to soothe her. "Hey, it’s going be okay-“_ _

__"Don’t touch me!" Shelby howled, ripping her arm away. She goes into a full-blown panic spiral now. The realization of all her decision making up until this point hitting her in the face. How could she have thought this was a good idea?_ _

__"God, I don’t know what I was thinkin’…why did I agree to this? What if somebody tells my Dad I-Oh _God_ " Shelby wails, pacing with her head in her hands. _ _

__“Nobody is going to narc on you Shelby. This is fucking high school, everyone has some sort of mutually assured destruction on each other, okay? Besides, I would kick anyone's fucking ass if they breathed a word.”_ _

__“Did you even see who was there? Lihn Bach practically gossips for a living. By now the whole school has probably been told that we were caught screwing! But that's what you wanted, wasn't it?"_ _

__"What?!" Toni asked confused as to how this conversation took this turn as Shelby continued to go off the rails and scream off the top of her lungs._ _

__"You probably planned the whole thing. God! How could I be so stupid?" Shelby gasped as she brought her hand to her forehead. "You planned the whole thing! This was revenge, right? All part of some little scheme of yours. God! I hate you, so much, I-"_ _

__"Shelby do you hear yourself right now?" Toni asks. "How the hell could I have planned the whole thing? I didn't even know you weren't going to eat at the cafeteria." Toni pointed out, but Shelby was so enraged and panicked, she couldn't even see straight._ _

__"This was all just a game to you from the start. Something to laugh about with your friends. I bet you just can't wait to tell everyone about me, huh?"_ _

__"Fuck, no! I would never!” Toni said, adamantly. She tries to get closer to Shelby again, to make her see reason. Shelby please can we just-"_ _

__Shelby roughly pushed Toni away from her._ _

__"Don't come anywhere near me, ever again." She hissed between clenched teeth and walked away._ _


End file.
